I. W. Martin

Update on quadruple suspension design for Advanced LIGO

We describe the design of the suspension systems for the major optics for Advanced LIGO, the upgrade to LIGO—the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory. The design is based on that used in GEO600—the German/UK interferometric gravitational wave detector, with further development to meet the more stringent noise requirements for Advanced LIGO. The test mass suspensions consist of a four-stage or quadruple pendulum for enhanced seismic isolation. To minimize suspension thermal noise, the final stage consists of a silica mirror, 40 kg in mass, suspended from another silica mass by four silica fibres welded to silica ears attached to the sides of the masses using hydroxide-catalysis bonding. The design is chosen to achieve a displacement noise level for each of the seismic and thermal noise contributions of 10^(−19) m/√Hz at 10 Hz, for each test mass. We discuss features of the design which has been developed as a result of experience with prototypes and associated investigations.

Effect of heat treatment on mechanical dissipation in Ta2O5 coatings

Thermal noise arising from mechanical dissipation in dielectric reflective coatings is expected to critically limit the sensitivity of precision measurement systems such as high-resolution optical spectroscopy, optical frequency standards and future generations of interferometric gravitational wave detectors. We present measurements of the effect of post-deposition heat treatment on the temperature dependence of the mechanical dissipation in ion-beam sputtered tantalum pentoxide between 11 K and 300 K. We find that the temperature dependence of the dissipation is strongly dependent on the temperature at which the heat treatment was carried out, and we have identified three dissipation peaks occurring at different heat treatment temperatures. At temperatures below 200 K, the magnitude of the loss was found to increase with higher heat treatment temperatures, indicating that heat treatment is a significant factor in determining the level of coating thermal noise.

Measurements of a low-temperature mechanical dissipation peak in a single layer of Ta2O5 doped with TiO2

Thermal noise arising from mechanical dissipation in oxide coatings is a major limitation to many precision measurement systems, including optical frequency standards, high-resolution optical spectroscopy and interferometric gravity wave detectors. Presented here are measurements of dissipation as a function of temperature between 7 K and 290 K in ion-beam-sputtered Ta2O5 doped with TiO2, showing a loss peak at 20 K. Analysis of the peak provides the first evidence of the source of dissipation in doped Ta2O5 coatings, leading to possibilities for the reduction of thermal noise effects.

Comparison of the temperature dependence of the mechanical dissipation in thin films of Ta2O5 and Ta2O5 doped with TiO2

Here we report the first results comparing the temperature dependence of the mechanical dissipation in thin films of Ta_2O_5 and Ta_2O_5 doped with TiO_2, of a type suitable for use in the multilayer optical coatings for advanced gravitational wave detectors. The results indicate that doping Ta_2O_5 with TiO_2 can significantly alter the distribution of activation energies associated with the low-temperature dissipation peak.

Invited article: CO2 laser production of fused silica fibers for use in interferometric gravitational wave detector mirror suspensions.

In 2000 the first mirror suspensions to use a quasi-monolithic final stage were installed at the GEO600 detector site outside Hannover, pioneering the use of fused silica suspension fibers in long baseline interferometric detectors to reduce suspension thermal noise. Since that time, development of the production methods of fused silica fibers has continued. We present here a review of a novel CO(2) laser-based fiber pulling machine developed for the production of fused silica suspensions for the next generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors and for use in experiments requiring low thermal noise suspensions. We discuss tolerances, strengths, and thermal noise performance requirements for the next generation of gravitational wave detectors. Measurements made on fibers produced using this machine show a 0.8% variation in vertical stiffness and 0.05% tolerance on length, with average strengths exceeding 4 GPa, and mechanical dissipation which meets the requirements for Advanced LIGO thermal noise performance.

Robust boosting for learning from few examples

We present and analyze a novel regularization technique based on enhancing our dataset with corrupted copies of our original data. The motivation is that since the learning algorithm lacks information about which parts of the data are reliable, it has to make more robust classification functions. Using this framework, we propose a simple addition to the gentle boosting algorithm which enables it to work with only a few examples. We test this new algorithm on a variety of datasets and show convincing results.

Low temperature mechanical dissipation of an ion-beam sputtered silica film

Thermal noise arising from mechanical dissipation in oxide mirror coatings is an important limit to the sensitivity of future gravitational wave detectors, optical atomic clocks and other precision measurement systems. Here, we present measurements of the temperature dependence of the mechanical dissipation of an ion-beam sputtered silica film between 10 and 300 K. A dissipation peak was observed at 20 K and the low temperature dissipation was found to have significantly different characteristics than observed for bulk silica and silica films deposited by alternative techniques. These results are important for better understanding the underlying mechanisms of mechanical dissipation, and thus thermal noise, in the most commonly-used reflective coatings for precision measurements.

Cryogenic mechanical loss measurements of heat-treated hafnium dioxide

Low mechanical loss, high index-of-refraction thin-film coating materials are of particular interest to the gravitational wave detection community, where reduced mirror coating thermal noise in gravitational wave detectors is desirable. Current studies are focused on understanding the loss of amorphous metal oxides such as SiO2, Ta2O5 and HfO2. Here, we report recent measurements of the temperature dependence of the mechanical loss of ion-beam sputtered hafnium dioxide (HfO2) coatings that have undergone heat treatment. The results indicate that, even when partially crystallized, these coatings have lower loss than amorphous Ta2O5 films below ~100 K and that their loss exhibits some features which are heat-treatment dependent in the temperature range of ~100–200 K, with higher heat treatment yielding lower mechanical loss. The potential for using silica doping of hafnia coatings to prevent crystallization is discussed.

Calculation of thermal noise in grating reflectors

Grating reflectors have been repeatedly discussed to improve the noise performance of metrological applications due to the reduction or absence of any coating material. So far, however, no quantitative estimate on the thermal noise of these reflective structures exists. In this work we present a theoretical calculation of a grating reflector’s noise. We further apply it to a proposed third generation gravitational wave detector. Depending on the grating geometry, the grating material, and the temperature, we obtain a thermal noise decrease by up to a factor of 10 compared to conventional dielectric mirrors. Thus the use of grating reflectors can substantially improve the noise performance in metrological applications.

Silicon mirror suspensions for gravitational wave detectors

One of the most significant limits to the sensitivity of current, and future, long-baseline interferometric gravitational wave detectors is thermal displacement noise of the test masses and their suspensions. This paper reports results of analytical and experimental studies of the limits to thermal noise performance of cryogenic silicon test mass suspensions set by two constraints on suspension fibre dimensions: the minimum dimensions required to allow conductive cooling for extracting incident laser beam heat deposited in the mirrors; and the minimum dimensions of fibres (set by their tensile strength) which can support test masses of the size envisaged for use in future detectors. We report experimental studies of breaking strength of silicon ribbons, and resulting design implications for the feasibility of suspension designs for future gravitational wave detectors using silicon suspension fibres. We analyse the implication of this study for thermal noise performance of cryogenically cooled silicon suspensions.