Lock acquisition studies for advanced interferometers

Abstract

This document describes some results of time domain simulation for a Fabry-Perot cavity with Advanced LIGO parameters. Future interferometer will employ a high power laser and high finesse cavities. Lock acquisition of arm cavity will be more difficult due to the optical instabilities which are caused by very high power inside the cavity. According to this simulation, the arm cavity should be locked with very low power, and additional hard/software techniques will be needed to establish the first fringe lock. In this paper, possibility of using a new algorithm called 'Guidelock' and a suspension point interferometer are discussed. After lock is acquired, alignment controls must be engaged before increasing the power. This simulation predicts that alignment optical instabilities show up due to a shift of high power beam axis, and they can be stabilized by proper alignment controls.

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