We have directly observed broadband thermal noise in silica/tantala coatings in a high-sensitivity Fabry-Perot interferometer. Our result agrees well with the prediction based on indirect, ring-down measurements of coating mechanical loss, validating that method as a tool for the development of advanced interferometric gravitational-wave detectors.
@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0401034,
title = {Direct Observation of Broadband Coating Thermal Noise in a Suspended Interferometer},
author = {Eric D. Black and Akira Villar and Kyle Barbary and Adam Bushmaker and Jay Heefner and Seiji Kawamura and Fumiko Kawazoe and Luca Matone and Sharon Meidt and Shanti R. Rao and Kevin Schulz and Michael Zhang and Kenneth G. Libbrecht},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0401034},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Final version synchronized with publication in Phys. Lett. A