Related papers: The photothermal effect in interferometers
We report the experimental observation of the photothermal effect. The measurements are performed by modulating the laser power absorbed by the mirrors of two high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavities. The results are very well described by a…
Increasing requirements in the sensitivity of interferometric measurements is a common feature of several research fields, from gravitational wave detection to quantum optics. This motivates refined studies of high reflectivity mirrors and…
Intracavity squeezing is a promising technique that may improve the sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors and cool optomechanical oscillators to the ground state. However, the photothermal effect may modify the occurrence of…
We study theoretically the internal thermal noise of a mirror coated on a plano-convex substrate. The comparison with a cylindrical mirror of the same mass shows that the effect on a light beam can be reduced by a factor 10, improving the…
We report the first high-precision interferometer using large sapphire mirrors, and we present the first direct, broadband measurements of the fundamental thermal noise in these mirrors. Our results agree well with the thermoelastic-damping…
We have developed a new technique for photothermal displacement spectroscopy that is potentially orders of magnitude more sensitive than conventional methods. We use a single Fabry-Perot resonator to enhance both the intensity of the pump…
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…
A fundamental limit to the sensitivity of optical interferometry is thermal noise that drives fluctuations in the positions of the surfaces of the interferometer's mirrors, and thereby in the phase of the intracavity field. Schemes for…
We study the mechanical stability of a tunable high-finesse microcavity under ambient conditions and investigate light-induced effects that can both suppress and excite mechanical fluctuations. As an enabling step, we demonstrate the…
Optical multilayer coatings of high-reflective mirrors significantly determine the properties of Fabry-Perot resonators. Thermal (Brownian) noise in these coatings produce excess phase noise which can seriously degrade the sensitivity of…
In laser gravitational waves detectors optical loss restricts sensitivity. We discuss polarization scattering as one more possible mechanism of optical losses. Circulated inside interferometer light is polarized and after reflection its…
We study the effect of photothermal fluctuations on squeezed states of light through the photo-refractive effect and thermal expansion in a degenerate optical parametric amplifier (OPA). We also discuss the effect of the photothermal noise…
Reduction of coating thermal noise is a key issue in precise measurements with an optical interferometer. A good example of such a measurement device is a gravitational-wave detector, where each mirror is coated by a few tens of…
Although experimental efforts have been active for about 30 years now, a direct laboratory observation of vacuum magnetic birefringence, an effect due to vacuum fluctuations, still needs confirmation. Indeed, the predicted birefringence of…
Thermal effects are already important in currently operating interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Planned upgrades of these detectors involve increasing optical power to combat quantum shot noise. We consider the ramifications of…
The intrinsic thermal noise in optical fibers is the ultimate limit of fiber-based systems. However, at infrasonic frequencies, the spectral behavior of the intrinsic thermal noise remains unclear so far. We present the measurements of the…
Thermodynamical fluctuations of temperature in mirrors may produce surface fluctuations not only through thermal expansion in mirror body but also through thermal expansion in mirror coating. We analyze the last "surface" effect which can…
The optical Vernier effect magnifies the sensing capabilities of an interferometer, allowing for unprecedented sensitivities and resolutions to be achieved. Just like a caliper uses two different scales to achieve higher resolution…
We develop a steady-state analytical and numerical model of the optical response of power-recycled Fabry-Perot Michelson laser gravitational-wave detectors to thermal focusing in optical substrates. We assume that the thermal distortions…
Mirror thermal noise is and will remain one of the main limitations to the sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors based on laser interferometers. We report about projected mirror thermal noise due to losses in the mirror coatings and…