English

The photothermal effect in interferometers

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

We have measured the photothermal effect in a single cross-polarized interferometer at audio frequencies (5 Hz - 4 kHz). In a Fabry-Perot interferometer, light in one polarization is chopped to periodically heat the interferometer mirrors, while light in the orthogonal polarization measures the mirror length changes. Tests of a polished solid metal mirror show good agreement with relevant proposed theories by Braginsky et al. ["Thermodynamical fluctuations and photo-thermal shot noise in gravitational wave antennae," Physics Letters A 264, 1-10 (1999)] and Cerdonio et al. ["Thermoelastic effects at low temperatures and quantum limits in displacement measurements," Physical Review D 63 082003 (2001)] describing uncoated optics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0210029,
  title  = {The photothermal effect in interferometers},
  author = {Shanti R. Rao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0210029},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

26 pages, 13 figures