Vibration Damper Research Plan

The Vibration damper research should proceed in several steps:

1. Model a feedback system to gain an idea of the performance which can be expected for various sensor and actuator noise and bandwidths.
2. Use a known position sensor (eg. an interferometer) to attempt to stabilize a test mass.
3. Construct a capacitive inertial sensor and measure its performance.
4. Install a set of actuators and sensors on a test mass, and measure the performance of the stabilization system,.
5. Construct a second stabilized mass, and use an interferometer (or calibrated capacitive sensor) to measure their relative displacement.