Optical coatings for gravitational wave detection

Gregory M. Harry; Helena Armandula; Eric Black; David R.M. Crooks; Gianpietro Cagnoli; Martin M. Fejer; Jim Hough; Steven D. Penn; Sheila Rowan; Roger Route; Peter Sneddon

doi:10.1117/12.555780

29 September 2004 Optical coatings for gravitational wave detection

Gregory M. Harry, Helena Armandula, Eric Black, David R.M. Crooks, Gianpietro Cagnoli, Martin M. Fejer, Jim Hough, Steven D. Penn, Sheila Rowan, Roger Route, Peter Sneddon

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5527, Advances in Thin Film Coatings for Optical Applications; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.555780
Event: Optical Science and Technology, the SPIE 49th Annual Meeting, 2004, Denver, Colorado, United States

Abstract

Gravitational waves are a prediction of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Astrophysical events like supernova and binary neutron star inspirals are predicted to create potentially detectable waves. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) is an experiment to detect these waves using Michelson interferometers with 4 km long arms. The effect of gravitational waves, even on an interferometer with such a long baseline, is extremely, with mirror displacements around 10^-18m. Reducing noise is thus a primary design criterion. For the next generation interferometers now being designed, thermal noise from the optical coatings of the interferometer mirrors could prove a problematic limiting noise source. Reducing the mechanical loss of these coatings to improve thermal noise, while preserving the sub-ppm optical absorption, low scatter, and high reflectivity needed in the interferometer is an important area of research.

Citation Download Citation

Gregory M. Harry, Helena Armandula, Eric Black, David R.M. Crooks, Gianpietro Cagnoli, Martin M. Fejer, Jim Hough, Steven D. Penn, Sheila Rowan, Roger Route, and Peter Sneddon "Optical coatings for gravitational wave detection", Proc. SPIE 5527, Advances in Thin Film Coatings for Optical Applications, (29 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.555780

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