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Abstract:
The LISA Technology Package (LTP), to be launched by ESA in 2006/2007, is a technology demonstration mission in preparation for the LISA space-borne gravitational wave detector. A central part of the LTP is the optical metrology package (heterodyne interferometer with phasemeter) which monitors the distance between two test masses with a noise level of 10 pm Hz-1/2 between 3 mHz and 30 mHz. It has a dynamic range of >100 µm without any actuators for the pathlength. In addition to the longitudinal measurements, it provides alignment measurements with an expected noise level of <10 nrad Hz-1/2. While the basic design has been described previously by Heinzel et al (2003 Class. Quantum Grav. 20 S153–61), this paper gives new details on the laser stabilization, the phasemeter and recent prototype results.