Dr. Gudrun Wanner

Independent Group Leader for Optical Simulations in the “Space Interferometry” group

A person wearing a light grey sweater with a prominent, draped collar stands in front of lush green foliage, creating a natural backdrop.

What are your responsibilities at our institute?

Coordinator of the Simulation Working Group within the Space Interferometry Working Group
Co-Chair of the Instrumentation Working Group, Member of the Council, and of various groups in the LISA Consortium
Member of the ESA-led Performance and Operations effort and the DDPC team.
Co-PI, Science Board member and leader of topical group “Optical Simulations” of the Cluster of Excellence EXC 2123 QuantumFrontiers
Member of the Cluster of Excellence EXC 2122 PhoenixD

Can you please summarize your research?

Gravitational waves are famous since the first LIGO detection, followed by so many more detections. I am interested in realizing the space gravitational wave detector LISA, a 2.5 Mkm triangular shaped interferometer, whose end points are three satellites. I am specialized on the LISA interferometry and in particular on optical simulations that are needed in order to ensure the excellent noise performance we need for LISA.

Do you have a favourite figure from a paper you co-authored?

Graph showing frequency vs. acceleration noise with LISA and LPF requirements marked. — from „Sub-Femto-g Free Fall for Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatories: LISA Pathfinder Results“ (PRL 116, 231101 (2016))

from „Sub-Femto-g Free Fall for Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatories: LISA Pathfinder Results“ (PRL 116, 231101 (2016))

This graphic from Sub-Femto-g Free Fall for Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatories: LISA Pathfinder Results shows the noise curve of LISA Pathfinder in 2016, showing the excellent performance of the LISA Pathfinder mission in the early mission phase. The bump labeled with “pick-up of spacecraft motion” was a key element of my research for several years. This bump is caused by the so-called “tilt-to-length cross coupling”, which is an unintended pick-up of angular jitter and lateral motion of the spacecraft into the interferometric readout. It took us several years to really explain this noise in the LISA Pathfinder mission. Now, I am working with my colleagues on the mitigation techniques for this noise type in the LISA mission.