Coating-free mirrors for high precision interferometric experiments

Document #:

LIGO-P070069-x0

Document type:

P - Publications

Abstract:

Thermal noise in mirror optical coatings may not only limit the sensitivity of future gravitational-wave detectors in their most sensitive frequency band but is also a major impediment for experiments that aim to reach the standard quantum limit or cool mechanical systems to their quantum ground state. We present the design and experimental characterization of a highly reflecting mirror without any optical coating. This coating-free mirror is based on total internal reflection and Brewster-angle coupling. In order to characterize its performance, the coating-free mirror was incorporated into a triangular ring cavity together with a high quality conventional mirror. The finesse of this cavity was measured using an amplitude transfer function to be about [script F]~=4000. This finesse corresponds to a reflectivity of the coating-free mirror of about R~=99.89%. In addition, the dependence of the reflectivity on rotation was mapped out.

Files in Document:

• P070069-00.pdf (257.1 kB)

Topics:

• Document Migration from the old DCC
• Public relations

Authors:

• Conor Mow-Lowry
• Stefan Gossler
• David McClelland
• Jeff Cumpston
• S Gobler
• Mal Gray
• Kirk Mckenzie

Notes and Changes:

Rev P070069-00-Z:
- Full document number: LIGO-P070069-00-Z
- Author(s): Jeff Cumpston; S. Gobler; Mal Gray; David Mcclelland; Kirk Mckenzie; Conor Mow-Lowry
- Document date: 2007-06-05
- Document received date: 2007-06-05
- Document entry date: 2007-06-05

Publication Information:

http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.76.053810