TianQin Space-Based Gravitational Wave Detector: Key Technologies and Current State of Implementation

Abstract

TianQin is a project of a space-based gravitational wave detector for detecting GW events in the millihertz frequency range. The space-based detector must be implemented on three identical drag-free spacecraft orbiting around the Earth. The key technologies that form the principles of operation of the space-based GW detector are, first, an ultrastable transponder laser interferometer and, second, a system for compensating nongravitational disturbances. This work discusses the basic principles of operation and the current state of the key technologies developed in the PRC. At the current level of technological readiness, it is expected that TianQin will be launched in the second half of the next decade and will serve as a space observatory for a wide class of astrophysical sources of gravitational waves.