The ultimate astronomical observatory would be a formation flying interferometer in space, immune to atmospheric turbulence and absorption, free from atmospheric and telescope thermal emission, and reconfigurable to adjust baselines according to the required angular resolution. Imagine the near/mid-infrared sensitivity of the JWST and the far-IR sensitivity of Herschel but with ALMA-level angular resolution, or imagine having the precision control to null host star light across 250m baselines and to detect molecules from the atmospheres of nearby exo-Earths. With no practical engineering limit to the formation's size or number of telescopes in the array, formation flying interferometry will revolutionize astronomy and this White Paper makes the case that it is now time to accelerate investments in this technological area. Here we provide a brief overview of the required technologies needed to allow light to be collected and interfered using separate spacecrafts. We emphasize the emerging role of inexpensive smallSat projects and the excitement for the LISA Gravitational Wave Interferometer to push development of the required engineering building-blocks. We urge the Astro2020 Decadal Survey Committee to highlight the need for a small-scale formation flying space interferometer project to demonstrate end-to-end competency with a timeline for first stellar fringes by the end of the decade.
Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry: Workshop Summary
Leibniz Universität Hannover（汉诺威莱布尼茨大学）；Laboratoire Collisions Agrégats Réactivité, CNRS, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier（碰撞与基团反应实验室，法国国家科学研究中心，图卢兹第三大学-保罗·萨巴蒂尔大学）；Department of Industrial Engineering, Higher Polytechnic School, University of the Balearic Islands（巴利阿里群岛大学高等理工学院工业工程系）；IFORTH Institute of Astrophysics（IFORTH天体物理研究所）；Physics Department, Imperial College（帝国理工学院物理系）；CERN（欧洲核子研究组织）；SUPA Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde（斯特拉斯克莱德大学物理系（SUPA））；Institut für Quantenphysik and Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology (IQST), Universität Ulm（乌尔姆大学量子物理研究所及集成量子科学与技术中心）；Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Quantentechnologien（德国航空航天中心量子技术研究所）；Physics Department, King’s College London（伦敦国王学院物理系）；Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院沃尔特·伯克理论物理研究所）
