Thermal noise from optical coatings in gravitational wave detectors
Abstract
Gravitational waves are a prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity. These waves are created by massive objects, like neutron stars or black holes, oscillating at speeds appreciable to the speed of light. The detectable effect on the Earth of these waves is extremely small, however, creating strains of the order of 10−21. There are a number of basic physics experiments around the world designed to detect these waves by using interferometers with very long arms, up to 4 km in length. The next-generation interferometers are currently being designed, and the thermal noise in the mirrors will set the sensitivity over much of the usable bandwidth. Thermal noise arising from mechanical loss in the optical coatings put on the mirrors will be a significant source of noise. Achieving higher sensitivity through lower mechanical loss coatings, while preserving the crucial optical and thermal properties, is an area of active research right now.
Additional Information
© 2006 Optical Society of America. Received 1 March 2005; accepted 7 July 2005. The LIGO Observatories were constructed by the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with funding from the National Science Foundation under cooperative agreement PHY-9210038. The LIGO Laboratory operates under cooperative agreement PHY-0107417. This paper was assigned LIGO document number LIGO-P040033-00-D.Files
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 11020
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:HARao06
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2008-06-23Created from EPrint's datestamp field
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2020-03-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field