Mechanical Quality Factor of Cryogenic Silicon (SURF Final Report)

Document #:

LIGO-T1400668-v1

Document type:

T - Technical notes

Abstract:

Cryogenic silicon is being considered as an alternate material to the current material, silica, for the test masses in future iterations of LIGO due to its potential to reduce thermal noise. For example, the thermal expansion coefficient goes to zero at 120 K. This project maps the noise spectrum of low temperature silicon. The Fluctuation Dissipation Theorem relates the amount of noise produced by a system with the system's linear response to applied perturbations. We apply this theorem to cryogenic silicon by measuring the quality factor, Q, to observe the damping behavior. We can then calculate the noise spectrum of the system, and study the response of Q to frequency, drive amplitude, and temperature.
SURF2014_Marie_Lu

Files in Document:

• SURF2014_Marie_Lu_Final_Report.pdf (file is not accessible)

Topics:

• Suspensions

Authors:

• Marie Lu
• Nicolas Smith
• William Korth

Referenced by:

• LIGO-P1400235: LIGO SURF 2014 Final Reports