Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory beam tube component and module leak testing
- Creators
- Carpenter, W. A.
- Shaw, P. B.
- Jones, L.
- Weiss, R.
Abstract
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a joint project of the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology funded by the National Science Foundation. The project is designed to detect gravitational waves from astrophysical sources such as supernova and black holes. The LIGO project constructed observatories at two sites in the U.S. Each site includes two beam tubes (each 4 km long) joined to form an "L" shape. The beam tube is a 1.25 m diam 304 L stainless steel, ultrahigh vacuum tube that will operate at 1×10^–9 Torr or better. The beam tube was manufactured using a custom spiral weld tube mill from material processed to reduce the outgassing rate in order to minimize pumping costs. The integrity of the beam tube was assured by helium mass spectrometer leak testing each component of the beam tube system prior to installation. Each 2 km long, isolatable beam tube module was then leak tested after completion.
Additional Information
©2000 American Vacuum Society. (Received 1 October 1999; accepted 20 December 1999) Chicago Bridge & Iron Company thanks the LIGO project for the opportunity to work together on the LIGO beam tube modules. Members of the LIGO project and of CB&I worked together to solve the many challenges faced during the 5 1/2 yr development, implementation, fabrication, and testing. LIGO is funded by the National Science Foundation, an agency of the United States Government, through a cooperative agreement issued to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Under this cooperative agreement, a subcontract has been executed between Caltech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology providing for joint implementation of the LIGO project, LIGO project Document No. LIGO-P990023-00-B. Special issue: Papers from the 46th National Symposium of the American Vacuum SocietyFiles
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:8bb17b3de9f5add32ae3164eda0af819
|
596.7 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 2281
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:CARjvsta00
- Created
-
2006-03-21Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-08Created from EPrint's last_modified field