  The AEI 10 m prototype interferometer facility is currently being constructed
at the Albert Einstein Institute in Hannover, Germany. It aims to perform
experiments for future gravitational wave detectors using advanced techniques.
Seismically isolated benches are planned to be interferometrically
interconnected and stabilized, forming a low-noise testbed inside a 100 m^3
ultra-high vacuum system. A well-stabilized high power laser will perform
differential position readout of 100 g test masses in a 10 m suspended
arm-cavity enhanced Michelson interferometer at the crossover of measurement
(shot) noise and backaction (quantum radiation pressure) noise, the so-called
Standard Quantum Limit (SQL). Such a sensitivity enables experiments in the
highly topical field of macroscopic quantum mechanics. In this article we
introduce the experimental facility and describe the methods employed,
technical details of subsystems will be covered in future papers.
