Related papers: Measurements of the optical mirror coating propert…
Coating thermal noise is a fundamental limit for precision experiments based on optical and quantum transducers. In this review, after a brief overview of the techniques for coating thermal noise measurements, we present the latest…
Advanced LIGO's sensitivity will be limited by coating noise. Though this noise depends on beam shape, and though nongaussian beams are being seriously considered for advanced LIGO, no published analysis exists to compare the quantitative…
Mechanical loss of dielectric mirror coatings sets fundamental limits for both gravitational wave detectors and cavity-stabilized optical local oscillators for atomic clocks. Two approaches are used to determine the mechanical loss:…
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…
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…
Thermal noise of a mirror can be reduced by cold damping. The displacement is measured with a high-finesse cavity and controlled with the radiation pressure of a modulated light beam. We establish the general quantum limits of noise in cold…
A standard quarter-wavelength multilayer optical coating will produce the highest reflectivity for a given number of coating layers, but in general it will not yield the lowest thermal noise for a prescribed reflectivity. Coatings with the…
The topic of this thesis is the theoretical analysis of the optomechanical coupling effects in a high-finesse optical cavity, and the experimental realization of such a device. Radiation pressure exerted by light limits the sensitivity of…
A major barrier to improving the quantum-limited sensitivity of gravitational-wave observatories is the thermal distortions of the test masses which arise at megawatt laser power. Recent advances in a new form of higher-order wavefront…
High-reflectivity fused silica mirrors are at the epicentre of current advanced gravitational wave detectors. In these detectors, the mirrors interact with high power laser beams. As a result of finite absorption in the high reflectivity…
In modern high precision optical instruments, such as in gravitational wave detectors or frequency references, thermally induced fluctuations in the reflective coatings can be a limiting noise source. This noise, known as coating thermal…
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…
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…
Gravitational Wave interferometers achieve their profound sensitivity by combining a Michelson interferometer with optical cavities, suspended masses, and now, squeezed quantum states of light. These states modify the measurement process of…
Waveguide mirrors possess nano-structured surfaces which can potentially provide a significant reduction in thermal noise over conventional dielectric mirrors. To avoid introducing additional phase noise from motion of the mirror transverse…
Quantum fluctuations in the phase and amplitude quadratures of light set limitations on the sensitivity of modern optical instruments. The sensitivity of the interferometric gravitational wave detectors, such as the Advanced Laser…
We study the quantum limits in an optomechanical sensor based on a detuned high-finesse cavity with a movable mirror. We show that the radiation pressure exerted on the mirror by the light in the detuned cavity induces a modification of the…
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…
A relatively simple method of overcoming the Standard Quantum Limit in the next-generation Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detector is considered. It is based on the quantum variational measurement with a single short (a few tens of…
According to quantum mechanics, if we keep observing a continuous variable we generally disturb its evolution. For a class of observables, however, it is possible to implement a so-called quantum nondemolition measurement: by confining the…