Towards the development of a compact-monolithic optical assembly for Telecom laser frequency stabilization for LISA ground tests and other applications

We report on an ongoing development of a compact and transportable iodine frequency stabilized laser setup, based on compact and fibered Telecom components with a high technological readiness level (TRL). This laser system is being planned as a compact and easily transportable ultra-stable frequency reference for ground tests of the payload of LISA mission (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) as part of the SYRTE laboratory contribution to the French activities carried out by a consortium of several partners lead by the French Space Agency (CNES) for assembly-integration and tests (AIVT) of the payload of LISA. This frequency reference will match the LISA requirements in terms of both residual frequency and intensity noise. The target residual frequency noise for this stabilized laser is below the nominal requirement for LISA, which is currently 30 Hz/ Hz. Thus, we propose to provide a tandem of 1064 nm laser sources phase-locked to an iodine stabilized Telecom laser operating at 1596 nm. The frequency gap between the telecom domain and the green range is bridged using a frequency tripling process based on two cascaded PPLN crystals, fully fibered. The compact design of the whole setup will make it easily transportable to different sites and could be readily used for ground tests of the LISA payload.