Related papers: Temperature induced optical scatter changes in tit…
Choice of material is ubiquitous in integrated photonics to design device properties, whereas changing material composition is much less common. With phase matching as an additional objective, constraints in depositing and patterning thin…
Optical cavities to filter squeezed light for quantum noise reduction require optics with very low scattering losses. We report on measured light scattering from two super-polished fused silica optics before and after applying…
Recent detections of thermal inversions in the dayside atmospheres of some hot Jupiters are motivating new avenues to understand the interplay between their temperature structures and other atmospheric conditions. In particular, TiO has…
We have measured the mechanical loss of a dielectric multilayer reflective coating (ion-beam sputtered SiO$_2$ and Ta$_2$O$_5$) in cooled mirrors. The loss was nearly independent of the temperature (4 K $\sim$ 300 K), frequency, optical…
Light scattered by amorphous thin-film optical coatings limits the sensitivity of interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. We describe an imaging scatterometer to assess the role that crystal growth during annealing plays in this…
The lithium niobate single crystal is a well-known optical material that has been employed in a wide range of photonic applications. To realize further applications of the crystal, the birefringence properties need to be determined over a…
We report specific heat and thermal conductivity of gadolinium- and yttrium-doped amorphous silicon thin films measured using silicon-nitride membrane-based microcalorimeters. Addition of gadolinium or yttrium to the amorphous silicon…
Optical loss from scattered light could limit the performance of quantum-noise filter cavities being considered for an upgrade to the Advanced LIGO gravitational-wave detectors. This paper describes imaging scatterometer measurements of the…
Amorphous mixed titania-tantala coatings are key components of Bragg reflectors in the gravitational wave detectors (GWDs). Attaining the lowest possible values of optical absorption and mechanical losses in the coatings is of paramount…
The photo-thermal transfer function from absorbed power incident on a dielectric mirror to the effective mirror position is calculated using the coating design as input. The effect is found to change in amplitude and sign for frequencies…
Infrared optical investigations of $\alpha$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$I$_3$ have been performed in the spectral range from 80 to 8000~cm$^{-1}$ down to temperatures as low as 10~K by applying hydrostatic pressure. In the metallic state, $T > 135$~K, we…
In this Perspective we summarize the status of technological development for large-area and low-noise substrate-transferred GaAs/AlGaAs (AlGaAs) crystalline coatings for interferometric gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. These topics were…
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…
We report the results of a recent search for the lowest value of thermal noise that can be achieved in LIGO by changing the shape of mirrors, while fixing the mirror radius and maintaining a low diffractional loss. The result of this…
As the first generation of laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors near operation, research and development has begun on increasing the instrument's sensitivity while utilizing the existing infrastructure. In the Laser…
Scintillation characteristics of a thallium doped sodium iodide (NaI(Tl)) crystal with a dimension of 0.6 x 0.6 x 2 cm3 are studied by attaching a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) direct to the crystal over a temperature range from 93 to 300…
Thermal radiation is the dominant heat loss mechanism for receiver units on a parabolic solar collector plant at high temperatures. Reduction of these losses is traditionally achieved through the use of an optically selective coating on the…
The results of measurement of optical mirror coating are presented. These results indicate that Standard Quantum Limit of sensitivity can be reached in the second stage of LIGO project if it is limited by thermoelastic noise in the coating…
In this study we synthesized thin films of titanium oxide doped with thulium and/or ytterbium to modify the incident spectrum on the solar cells. This could be achieved either by photoluminescence up-converting devices, or down-converting…
The detection of VUV scintillation light, e.g. in (liquid) argon detectors, commonly includes a reflector with a fluorescent coating, converting UV photons to visible light. The light yield of these detectors depends directly on the…