Direct measurement of mirror coating thermal noise for improving the sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H05447
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Particle/Nuclear/Cosmic ray/Astro physics
• Research Institution: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Principal Investigator: Aso Yoichi 国立天文台, 重力波プロジェクト推進室, 准教授 (10568174)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 重力波 / 熱雑音 / 誘電体多層膜コーティング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, we worked on developing a system to directly measure coating thermal noise at low temperatures quickly and with high accuracy. Since the first direct detection of gravitational wave, the gravitational
wave astronomy has expanded rapidly. In order to further improve the detector sensitivity, we need to reduce the coating thermal noise, which limits the sensitivity around 100Hz. In order to select good coating technology for cryogenic interferometers like KAGRA, we have been developing a coating thermal noise measurement system utilizing cryogenic optical cavities. Through the analysis of elastic deformation of the cavities by seismic vibrations, optimization of optical design and so on, we have designed the system. We then constructed a cryostat, optical cavities made of monocrystalline silicon, input optics system and so on.

Free Research Field

重力波天文学