LIGO Document P070069-x0

Coating-free mirrors for high precision interferometric experiments

Document #:
LIGO-P070069-x0
Document type:
P - Publications
Abstract:
Thermal noise in mirror optical coatings may not only limit the sensitivity of future gravitational-wave detectors in their most sensitive frequency band but is also a major impediment for experiments that aim to reach the standard quantum limit or cool mechanical systems to their quantum ground state. We present the design and experimental characterization of a highly reflecting mirror without any optical coating. This coating-free mirror is based on total internal reflection and Brewster-angle coupling. In order to characterize its performance, the coating-free mirror was incorporated into a triangular ring cavity together with a high quality conventional mirror. The finesse of this cavity was measured using an amplitude transfer function to be about [script F]~=4000. This finesse corresponds to a reflectivity of the coating-free mirror of about R~=99.89%. In addition, the dependence of the reflectivity on rotation was mapped out.
Files in Document:
Notes and Changes:

Rev P070069-00-Z:
- Full document number: LIGO-P070069-00-Z
- Author(s): Jeff Cumpston; S. Gobler; Mal Gray; David Mcclelland; Kirk Mckenzie; Conor Mow-Lowry
- Document date: 2007-06-05
- Document received date: 2007-06-05
- Document entry date: 2007-06-05

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