Yukiyoshi Iida

Mirror suspension system for the TAMA SAS

Several R&D programmes are ongoing to develop the next generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors providing the superior sensitivity desired for refined astronomical observations. In order to obtain a wide observation band at low frequencies, the optics need to be isolated from the seismic noise. The TAMA SAS (seismic attenuation system) has been developed within an international collaboration between TAMA, LIGO, and some European institutes, with the main objective of achieving sufficient low-frequency seismic attenuation (−180 dB at 10 HZ). The system suppresses seismic noise well below the other noise levels starting at very low frequencies above 10 Hz. It also includes an active inertial damping system to decrease the residual motion of the optics enough to allow a stable operation of the interferometer. The TAMA SAS also comprises a sophisticated mirror suspension subsystem (SUS). The SUS provides support for the optics and vibration isolation complementing the SAS performance. The SUS is equipped with a totally passive magnetic damper to suppress internal resonances without degrading the thermal noise performance. In this paper we discuss the SUS details and present prototype results.

Constant force actuator for gravitational wave detector's seismic attenuation systems (SAS)

We have designed, tested and implemented a UHV-compatible, low-noise, non-contacting force actuator for DC positioning and inertial damping of the rigid body resonances of the Seismic Attenuation System (SAS) designed for the TAMA Gravitational Wave Interferometer. The actuator fully satisfies the stringent zero-force-gradient requirements that are necessary to prevent re-injecting seismic noise into the SAS chain. The actuators closed magnetic field design makes for particularly low power requirements, and low susceptibility to external perturbations. The actuator retains enough strength to absorb seismic perturbations even during small earthquakes.

Anatomy of the TAMA SAS seismic attenuation system

The TAMA SAS seismic attenuation system was developed to provide the extremely high level of seismic isolation required by the next generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors to achieve the desired sensitivity at low frequencies. Our aim was to provide good performance at frequencies above ~10 Hz, while utilizing only passive subsystems in the sensitive frequency band of the TAMA interferometric gravitational wave detectors. The only active feedback is relegated below 6 Hz and it is used to damp the rigid body resonances of the attenuation chain. Simulations, based on subsystem performance characterizations, indicate that the system can achieve rms mirror residual motion measured in a few tens of nanometres. We will give a brief overview of the subsystems and point out some of the characterization results, supporting our claims of achieved performance. SAS is a passive, UHV compatible and low cost system. It is likely that extremely sensitive experiments in other fields will also profit from our study.

Analysis methods for burst gravitational waves with TAMA data

We describe analysis methods and results for burst gravitational waves with data obtained in the eighth observation run by the TAMA300 detector. In this analysis, we used an excess-power filter for signal detection, and two types of veto for fake-event rejection; one is a time-scale selection of events and the other is a veto with auxiliary information recorded together with the main signal. We generated an event-candidate list with this analysis procedure, which will be used for coincidence analysis with the other detectors.