Near-unstable cavities have been proposed as an enabling technology for future gravitational wave detectors, as their compact structure and large beam spot can reduce the thermal noise floor of the interferometer. These cavities operate close to the edge of geometrical stability, and may be driven into instability via small cavity length perturbations or mirror surface distortions. They are at risk of suffering from problems such as high optical scattering loss and Gaussian mode degeneracy. The well-defined Gaussian beams can also be distorted through their interaction with the small imperfections of the mirror surfaces. These issues have an adverse impact on the detector sensitivity and controllability. In this article an experiment is designed and has been built to investigate the technical hurdles associated with marginally cavities. A near-unstable table-top cavity is built and accurate control achieved through length and alignment control systems. This experiment provides an account of the behavior of the near-unstable cavity. Additionally, the experiment provides an insight into how far cavity parameters can be pushed towards geometrical instability.
K. Bongs, V. Boyer, M. Cruise, A. Freise, M. Holynski, J. Hughes, A. Kaushik, Y.-H. Lien, A. Niggebaum, M. Perea-Ortiz, P. Petrov, S. Plant, Y. Singh, A. Stabrawa, D. Paul, M. Sorel, D. R. Cumming, J. Marsh, R. Bowtell, M. Bason, R. Beardsley, R. Campion, M. Brookes, T. Fernholz, T. Fromhold, L. Hackermuller, P. Krüger, X. Li, J. Maclean, C. Mellor, S. Novikov, F. Orucevic, A. Rushforth, N. Welch, T. Benson, R. Wildman, T. Freegarde, M. Himsworth, J. Ruostekoski, P. Smith, A. Tropper, P. Griffin, A. Arnold, E. Riis, J. Hastie, D. Paboeuf, D. Parrotta, B. Garraway, A. Pasquazi, M. Peccianti, W. Hensinger, E. Potter, A. Nizamani, H. Bostock, A. Rodriguez Blanco, G. Sinuco-Leon, I. Hill, R. Williams, P. Gill, N. Hempler, G. P. Malcolm, T. Cross, B. O. Kock, S. Maddox, P. John
The UK National Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Metrology is one of four flagship initiatives in the UK National of Quantum Technology Program. As part of a 20-year vision it translates laboratory demonstrations to deployable practical devices, with game-changing miniaturized components and prototypes that transform the state-of-the-art for quantum sensors and metrology. It brings together experts from the Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow, Nottingham, Southampton, Strathclyde and Sussex, NPL and currently links to over 15 leading international academic institutions and over 70 companies to build the supply chains and routes to market needed to bring 10–1000x improvements in sensing applications. It seeks, and is open to, additional partners for new application development and creates a point of easy open access to the facilities and supply chains that it stimulates or nurtures.
Kenneth Strain, B. Allen, P. Aufmuth, C. Aulbert, S. Babak, R. Balasubramanian, B. Barr, S. Berukoff, A. Bunkowski, Gianpietro Cagnoli, C. Cantley, M. Casey, S. Chelkowski, D. Churches, T. Cokelaer, C. Colacino, David Crooks, C. Cutler, Karsten Danzmann, R. Davies, Rejean Dupuis, E. Elliffe, Carsten Fallnich, A. Franzen, A. Freise, S. Gossler, A. Grant, H. Grote, S. Grunewald, J. Harms, Gerhard Heinzel, Ik Heng, A. Hepstonstall, M. Heurs, M. Hewitson, S. Hild, James Hough, Y. Itoh, R. Jones, S. Huttner, K. Kawabe, Christian Killow, K. Koetter, B. Krishnan, V. Leonhardt, Harald Lueck, B. Machenschalk, M. Malec, R. Mercer, Christopher Messenger, S. Mohanty, Kasem Mossavi, S. Mukherjee, P. Murray, S. Nagano, G. Newton, M. Papa, M. Perreur-Lloyd, M. Pitkin, M. Plissi, V. Quetschke, Virginia Re, S. Reid, L. Ribichini, D. Robertson, Norna Robertson, J. Romano, Sheila Rowan, Albrecht Ruediger, Bangalore Sathyaprakash, R. Schilling, R. Schnabel, B. Schutz, F. Seifert, A. Sintes, J. Smith, Peter Sneddon, I. Taylor, R. Taylor, A. Thuering, Carlo Ungarelli, H. Vahlbruch, Alberto Vecchio, J. Veitch, Harry Ward, U. Weiland, Herbert Welling, P. Williams, Benno Willke, Walter Winkler, Graham Woan, Ivo Zawischa
The GEO 600 laser interferometer with 600m armlength is part of a worldwide network of gravitational wave detectors. GEO 600 is unique in having advanced multiple pendulum suspensions with a monolithic last stage and in employing a signal recycled optical design. This paper describes the recent commissioning of the interferometer and its operation in signal recycled mode.
Fausto Acernese, Paolo Amico, N. Arnaud, Saverio Avino, D. Babusci, Regis Barille, Fabrizio Barone, L. Barsotti, M. Barsuglia, F. Beauville, M. Bizouard, C. Boccara, Francois Bondu, L. Bosi, C. Bradaschia, S. Braccini, Alain Brillet, V. Brisson, L. Brocco, Damir Buskulic, G. Calamai, Enrico Calloni, E. Campagna, F. Cavalier, G. Cella, Eric Chassande-Mottin, Frederic Cleva, T. Cokelaer, J.-P. Coulon, Elena Cuoco, Vincenzino Dattilo, M. Davier, Rosario De Rosa, Luciano Di Fiore, A. Di Virgilio, B. Dujardin, Antonio Eleuteri, Daniel Enard, I. Ferrante, F. Fidecaro, I. Fiori, Raffaele Flaminio, J.-D. Fournier, S. Frasca, Franco Frasconi, Andreas Freise, Luca Gammaitoni, Alberto Gennai, Adalberto Giazotto, Gianfranco Giordano, Lara Giordano, G. Guidi, H. Heitmann, P. Hello, P. Heusse, L. Holloway, S. Kreckelbergh, Paolo La Penna, Vincent Loriette, Magali Loupias, G. Losurdo, Jean-Marie Mackowski, E. Majorana, Catherine Man, E. Marchetti, Frederique Marion, Fabrizio Martelli, Alain Masserot, Louis Massonnet, Massimo Mazzoni, Leopoldo Milano, J. Moreau, F. Moreau, Nazario Morgado, F. Mornet, Benoit Mours, J. Pacheco, A. Pai, C. Palomba, Federico Paoletti, Silvio Pardi, R. Passaquieti, D. Passuello, B. Perniola, Laurent Pinard, R. Poggiani, Michele Punturo, P. Puppo, Ketevan Qipiani, J. Ramonet, P. Rapagnani, V. Reita, Alban Remillieux, F. Ricci, Iolanda Ricciardi, Guido Russo, Salvatore Solimeno, Ruagero Stanga, E. Tournefier, F. Travasso, Herve Trinquet, Didier Verkindt, Flavio Vetrano, Oliver Veziant, A. Vicere, J.-Y. Vinet, H. Vocca, Michel Yvert
The French-Italian interferometric gravitational wave detector VIRGO is currently being commissioned. Its principal instrument is a Michelson interferometer with 3 km long optical cavities in the arms and a power-recycling mirror. This paper gives an overview of the present status of the system. We report on the presently attained sensitivity and the system’s performance during the recent commissioning runs.
Benno Willke, P. Aufmuth, C. Aulbert, S. Babak, R. Balasubramanian, B. Barr, S. Berukoff, S. Bose, Gianpietro Cagnoli, M. Casey, D. Churches, C. Colacino, David Crooks, C. Cutler, K. Danzmann, R. Davies, Rejean Dupuis, E. Elliffe, Carsten Fallnich, A. Freise, S. Gossler, A. Grant, H. Grote, J. Harms, G. Heinzel, S. Herden, A. Hepstonstall, M. Heurs, M. Hewitson, James Hough, O. Jennrich, K. Kawabe, K. Koetter, V. Leonhardt, H. Lueck, M. Malec, Paul McNamara, Kasem Mossavi, S. Mohanty, S. Mukherjee, S. Nagano, G. Newton, B. Owen, M. Papa, M. Plissi, V. Quetschke, L. Ribichini, D. Robertson, N. Robertson, Sheila Rowan, Albrecht Ruediger, B. Sathyaprakash, R. Schilling, B. Schutz, F. Seifert, A. Sintes, K. Skeldon, Peter Sneddon, Kenneth Strain, I. Taylor, C. Torrie, Alberto Vecchio, H. Ward, U. Weiland, Herbert Welling, P. Williams, Walter Winkler, G. Woan, Ivo Zawischa
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Mirrors, Interferometers, Michelson interferometers, Data analysis, Data acquisition, Buildings, Control systems, Photodetectors, Laser systems engineering
The GEO600 laser interferometric gravitational wave detector is approaching the end of its commissioning phase which started in 1995.
During a test run in January 2002 the detector was operated for 15 days in a power-recycled michelson configuration. The detector and environmental data which were acquired during this test run were used to test the data analysis code. This paper describes the subsystems of GEO600, the status of the detector by August 2002 and the plans towards the first science run.
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