Micro-LED Embedded UV Discharge Solution for Space Charge Management

Charge management is a critical technology for space-based gravitational-wave detection, where the controllability of ultraviolet (UV) light plays a key role in determining performance. Although the solutions with light source and optical fiber have been widely adopted, they may experience performance degradation in space due to irradiation effects and parameter drift that would introduce uncertainty. This article presents a novel discharge solution that embeds micro-light-emitting diodes (LEDs) into the inertial sensors, avoiding the usage of optical fibers to simplify the optical pathway and enhance the system’s reliability. The experiments based on the torsion pendulum validate that the proposed solution can control the potential of test mass within 10 mV, which demonstrates the feasibility of charge management in gravitational-wave detection.