Nano-Newton electrostatic force actuators for femto-Newton-sensitive measurements: System performance test in the LISA Pathfinder mission

Electrostatic force actuation is a key component of the system of geodesic reference test masses (TM) for the LISA orbiting gravitational wave observatory and in particular for performance at low frequencies, below 1 mHz, where the observatory sensitivity is limited by stray force noise. The system needs to apply forces of order 10 - 9 N while limiting fluctuations in the measurement band to levels approaching 10 - 15 N / Hz 1 / 2 . We present here the LISA actuation system design, based on audio -frequency voltage carrier signals, and results of its in-flight performance test with the LISA Pathfinder test mission. In LISA, TM force actuation is used to align the otherwise free -falling TM to the spacecraft -mounted optical metrology system, without any forcing along the critical gravitational wave -sensitive interferometry axes. In LISA Pathfinder, on the other hand, the actuation was used also to stabilize the TM along the critical x axis joining the two TM, with the commanded actuation force entering directly into the mission 's main differential acceleration science observable. The mission allowed demonstration of the full compatibility of the electrostatic actuation system with the LISA observatory requirements, including dedicated measurement campaigns to amplify, isolate, and quantify the two main force noise contributions from the actuation system, from actuator gain noise and from low frequency "in band " voltage fluctuations. These campaigns have shown actuation force noise to be a relevant, but not dominant, noise source in LISA Pathfinder and have allowed performance projections for the conditions expected in the LISA mission.