Baffle material characterization for Advanced LIGO
Name
301560616-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
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8.77 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
b74afc24c189d998e183771b5326390b
Author(s)
Hunt, Cassandra R
Advisor(s)
Nergis Mavalvala.
Alternative Title
Baffle material characterization for Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
Date Issued
2008
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The transition to Advanced LIGO introduces new sensitivity requirements for the LIGO interferometers. When light scatters away from the main laser beam, then scatters off the beam tube and returns to the main beam, noise is introduced into the phase of the laser. The Auxiliary Optics Support subsystem uses baffles and beam dumps to control this scatter, but the baffle material and shape contribute some scatter as well. Careful selection of baffle material for Advanced LIGO is necessary in order to minimize baffle backscatter. Characterization of potential materials will also inform the geometry and placement of baffles. To this end, I developed a scatterometer experiment designed to measure the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of a material. The arrangement was used to measure the BRDF for black welder's glass, the prime candidate material for baffles in Advanced LIGO. I found that black glass has a BRDF on the order of 10-, putting it within sensitivity requirements.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-45).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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