Preliminary simulation analysis of the temperature fluctuation effect on Taiji-1 Laser interferometer

Abstract

Space-borne gravitational wave detection imposes a demanding requirement on the sensitivity of the laser interferometer. Among all disturbances that affect the measurement accuracy of the laser interferometer, temperature fluctuations contribute significantly. In this paper, the structure model and the interference path design of Taiji-1 laser interferometer have been used to conduct a preliminary simulation analysis of the temperature fluctuation noise through the finite element method. The temperature, the displacement and the optical path difference fluctuations have been obtained and theoretically analyzed. The preliminary simulation results are consistent with the theoretical analysis, which shows that the thermal–structural–optical simulation scheme adopted in this paper is reasonable. With the preliminary simulation results and the actual temperature control of Taiji-1 laser interferometer, we estimate that in Taiji-1 laser interferometer system, the temperature fluctuation is below the order of mK, the node displacement is within [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]pm, and the interference arm length difference fluctuation amplitude of the laser interferometer is also within [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]pm.