Point absorbers in Advanced LIGO
Name
2101.05828.pdf
Description
Submitted version
Size
5.99 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
f18dbf06ddccf019fde5ef088d26e294
Author(s)
Mavalvala, Nergis
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Applied Optics
Publisher
The Optical Society
Citation
Mavalvala, Nergis. 2021. "Point absorbers in Advanced LIGO." Applied Optics, 60 (13).
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
Small, highly absorbing points are randomly present on the surfaces of the
main interferometer optics in Advanced LIGO. The resulting nano-meter scale
thermo-elastic deformations and substrate lenses from these micron-scale
absorbers significantly reduces the sensitivity of the interferometer directly
though a reduction in the power-recycling gain and indirect interactions with
the feedback control system. We review the expected surface deformation from
point absorbers and provide a pedagogical description of the impact on power
build-up in second generation gravitational wave detectors (dual-recycled
Fabry-Perot Michelson interferometers). This analysis predicts that the
power-dependent reduction in interferometer performance will significantly
degrade maximum stored power by up to 50% and hence, limit GW sensitivity, but
suggests system wide corrections that can be implemented in current and future
GW detectors. This is particularly pressing given that future GW detectors call
for an order of magnitude more stored power than currently used in Advanced
LIGO in Observing Run 3. We briefly review strategies to mitigate the effects
of point absorbers in current and future GW wave detectors to maximize the
success of these enterprises.
MIT Department
LIGO (Observatory : Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Terms of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.419689
