Related papers: Optimal Light Beams and Mirror Shapes for Future L…
Micro-domes based on a combination of metallic and dielectric multilayer mirrors are studied using a fully vectorial numerical basis-expansion method that accurately accounts for the effects of an arbitrary Bragg stack and can efficiently…
The Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detectors are nearing their design sensitivity and should begin taking meaningful astrophysical data in the fall of 2015. These resonant optical interferometers will have unprecedented sensitivity to the…
Precision measurements of space and time, like those made by the detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), are often confronted with fundamental limitations imposed by quantum mechanics. The Heisenberg…
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,…
The LIGO detectors are sensitive to a variety of noise transients of non-astrophysical origin. Instrumental glitches and environmental disturbances increase the false alarm rate in the searches for gravitational waves. Using times already…
We consider the problem of searching for gravitational waves emitted during the inspiral phase of binary systems when the orbital plane precesses due to relativistic spin-orbit coupling. Such effect takes place when the spins of the binary…
We analyze the sensitivity of a network of interferometer gravitational-wave detectors to the gravitational-wave stochastic background, and derive the dependence of this sensitivity on the orientations of the detector arms. We build on and…
Modern gravitational-wave observatories require robust low-frequency active seismic isolation in order to keep the interferometer at its ideal operating conditions. Seismometers are used to measure both the motion of the ground and isolated…
Gravitational wave detectors, such as LIGO, are predominantly limited by coating Brownian thermal noise (CTN), arising from mechanical losses in the Bragg mirror coatings used on test-mass optics. Accurately characterizing and minimizing…
Laser interferometers with high circulating power and suspended optics, such as the LIGO gravitational wave detectors, experience an optomechanical coupling effect known as a parametric instability: the runaway excitation of a mechanical…
We have addressed the challenge to carry out the angular tilt stabilization of a laser guiding mirror which is intended to route a laser beam with a high energy density. Such an application requires good angular accuracy as well as large…
(Abridged) Context. To directly image rocky exoplanets in reflected (polarized) light, future space- and ground-based high-contrast imagers and telescopes aim to reach extreme contrasts at close separations from the star. However, the…
Thermal noise in high-reflectivity mirror coatings is a limiting factor in ground-based gravitational wave detectors. Reducing this coating thermal noise improves the sensitivity of detectors and enriches the scientific outcome of observing…
Thermal noise in amorphous coatings is a limitation for a wide range of precision experiments such as gravitational-wave detectors (GWDs). Mirrors for GWDs are composed of multiple thin layers of dielectric materials deposited on a…
We propose a novel approach to detect gravitational waves based on a semi-rigid detector. The approach relies upon the time delay that the light takes to travel from a fixed mirror at the end of a rigid bar to a nearby free mirror. We show…
Gravitational wave timbre, the relative amplitude and phase of the different frequency harmonics, can change due to interactions with low-mass halos. We focus on binaries in the LISA range and find that the integrated lens effect of cold…
We report on the measurements of tilt noise performed at the Virgo site with a ring laser gyroscope. The apparatus is a He-Ne laser operating in a square cavity mounted on a vertical plane perpendicular to the north-south arm of the…
Utilizing gravitational-wave (GW) lensing opens a new way to understand the small-scale structure of the universe. We show that, in spite of its coarse angular resolution and short duration of observation, LIGO can detect the GW lensing…
Seismic noise will be the dominant source of noise at low frequencies for ground based gravitational wave detectors, such as LIGO now under construction. Future interferometers installed at LIGO plan to use at least a double pendulum…
Both observational and theoretical rates of binary neutron star coalescence give low prospects for detection of a single event by the initial LIGO/VIRGO interferometers. However, by utilizing at the best all the a priori information on the…