What this work contributes
Measures coupling between test-mass charge and stray electric fields in flight. Charge management and field compensation suppress a conventional source of acceleration noise that could otherwise obscure a weak-force experiment.
Where the evidence stops
This performance belongs to LISA Pathfinder's specialized sensor and spacecraft. It cannot be assigned to a ground-based apparatus or interpreted as a propulsion measurement.
Keep the conditions with the result
- Measured / modeled quantity
- Charge-induced acceleration-noise amplitude spectral density
- Reported scale
- Near 1.0 fm s⁻²/√Hz per test mass over 0.1–100 mHz.
- Conditions
- Free-falling test masses inside capacitive gravitational reference sensors in space.
- Evidence context
- Dedicated measurements agreed with the instrument's electrostatic model; independent replication not assessed.
- Design use
- Include charge state, stray voltage and electrostatic coupling in the disturbance budget.
- Review access
- Publisher abstract and official author metadata inspected; full text not reviewed.
Original source
M. Armano et al. (LISA Pathfinder Collaboration). Charge-Induced Force Noise on Free-Falling Test Masses: Results from LISA Pathfinder. Physical Review Letters 118, 171101 (2017).
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.171101
How we use it
This record belongs to Measurement & replication. Its evidence label describes the cited work, not the maturity of a Metric Flight device. Follow the original methods, corrections and conditions before transferring a result to a different geometry or scale.
Editorial note reviewed 19 October 2026. AI assisted research discovery and synthesis. Citation metadata and claims were checked against primary publication or institutional records; full-text access varies. Read the source for the complete method.