Charging and Discharging Modeling of Inertial Sensors Based on Ultraviolet Charge Management

Inertial sensors act as inertial references in space gravitational wave detection missions, necessitating that their internal test mass (TM) maintains minimal residual acceleration noise. High-energy particles and cosmic rays in space, along with ion pumps in ground-based torsion pendulum experiments, can cause charge accumulation on the TM surface, leading to increased residual acceleration noise. Consequently, a charge management system was introduced to control the TM’s charge. The complex light path propagation within the electrode housing (EH) makes the TM’s charging and discharging process difficult to theoretically calculate and fully simulate. To address this issue, we propose a simulation method for charging and discharging inertial sensors within ultraviolet (UV) charge management systems. This method innovatively considers the impact of photoelectron emission angle and the TM’s position offset from symmetry on performance. The method also simulates charging and discharging rates over time under conditions of symmetry and preliminarily examines factors affecting the TM’s equilibrium potential. Simulation results indicate that this method effectively models the charge management system’s operation, providing a valuable reference for system design.