748 research outputs found
Network sensitivity to geographical configuration
Gravitational wave astronomy will require the coordinated analysis of data
from the global network of gravitational wave observatories. Questions of how
to optimally configure the global network arise in this context. We have
elsewhere proposed a formalism which is employed here to compare different
configurations of the network, using both the coincident network analysis
method and the coherent network analysis method. We have constructed a network
model to compute a figure-of-merit based on the detection rate for a population
of standard-candle binary inspirals. We find that this measure of network
quality is very sensitive to the geographic location of component detectors
under a coincident network analysis, but comparatively insensitive under a
coherent network analysis.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for proceedings of the 4th Edoardo
Amaldi conference, incorporated referees' suggestions and corrected diagra
Suppression of Classical and Quantum Radiation Pressure Noise via Electro-Optic Feedback
We present theoretical results that demonstrate a new technique to be used to
improve the sensitivity of thermal noise measurements: intra-cavity intensity
stabilisation. It is demonstrated that electro-optic feedback can be used to
reduce intra-cavity intensity fluctuations, and the consequent radiation
pressure fluctuations, by a factor of two below the quantum noise limit. We
show that this is achievable in the presence of large classical intensity
fluctuations on the incident laser beam. The benefits of this scheme are a
consequence of the sub-Poissonian intensity statistics of the field inside a
feedback loop, and the quantum non-demolition nature of radiation pressure
noise as a readout system for the intra-cavity intensity fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Numerical wave optics and the lensing of gravitational waves by globular clusters
We consider the possible effects of gravitational lensing by globular
clusters on gravitational waves from asymmetric neutron stars in our galaxy. In
the lensing of gravitational waves, the long wavelength, compared with the
usual case of optical lensing, can lead to the geometrical optics approximation
being invalid, in which case a wave optical solution is necessary. In general,
wave optical solutions can only be obtained numerically. We describe a
computational method that is particularly well suited to numerical wave optics.
This method enables us to compare the properties of several lens models for
globular clusters without ever calling upon the geometrical optics
approximation, though that approximation would sometimes have been valid.
Finally, we estimate the probability that lensing by a globular cluster will
significantly affect the detection, by ground-based laser interferometer
detectors such as LIGO, of gravitational waves from an asymmetric neutron star
in our galaxy, finding that the probability is insignificantly small.Comment: To appear in: Proceedings of the Eleventh Marcel Grossmann Meetin
The ACIGA Data Analysis programme
The Data Analysis programme of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric
Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA) was set up in 1998 by the first author to
complement the then existing ACIGA programmes working on suspension systems,
lasers and optics, and detector configurations. The ACIGA Data Analysis
programme continues to contribute significantly in the field; we present an
overview of our activities.Comment: 10 pages, 0 figures, accepted, Classical and Quantum Gravity,
(Proceedings of the 5th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves,
Tirrenia, Pisa, Italy, 6-11 July 2003
Cooling of a gram-scale cantilever flexure to 70 mK with a servo-modified optical spring
A series of recent articles have presented results demonstrating optical cooling of macroscopic objects,
highlighting the importance of this phenomenon for investigations of macroscopic quantum mechanics
and its implications for thermal noise in gravitational wave detectors. In this Letter, we present a
measurement of the off-resonance suspension thermal noise of a 1 g oscillator, and we show that it
can be cooled to just 70 mK. The cooling is achieved by using a servo to impose a phase delay between
oscillator motion and optical force. A model is developed to show how optical rigidity and optical cooling
can be interchangeable using this technique
Photothermal Fluctuations as a Fundamental Limit to Low-Frequency Squeezing in a Degenerate Optical Parametric Amplifier
We study the effect of photothermal fluctuations on squeezed states of light
through the photo-refractive effect and thermal expansion in a degenerate
optical parametric amplifier (OPA). We also discuss the effect of the
photothermal noise in various cases and how to minimize its undesirable
consequences. We find that the photothermal noise in the OPA introduces a
significant amount of noise on phase squeezed beams, making them less than
ideal for low frequency applications such as gravitational wave (GW)
interferometers, whereas amplitude squeezed beams are relatively immune to the
photothermal noise and may represent the best choice for application in GW
interferometers
Pico-strain multiplexed fiber optic sensor array operating down to infra-sonic frequencies
An integrated sensor system is presented which displays passive
long range operation to 100 km at pico-strain (pΔ) sensitivity to low
frequencies (4 Hz) in wavelength division multiplexed operation with
negligible cross-talk (better than â75 dB). This has been achieved by prestabilizing
and multiplexing all interrogation lasers for the sensor array to a
single optical frequency reference. This single frequency reference allows
each laser to be locked to an arbitrary wavelength and independently tuned,
while maintaining suppression of laser frequency noise. With appropriate
packaging, such a multiplexed strain sensing system can form the core of a
low frequency accelerometer or hydrophone array
Experimental demonstration of a classical analog to quantum noise cancellation for use in gravitational wave detection
We present results that are a classical analog to quantum noise cancellation. It is possible to breach the standard quantum limit in an interferometer by the use of squeezing to correlate orthogonal quadratures of quantum noise, causing their effects on the resulting sensitivity to cancel. A laser beam incident on a Fabry-Perot cavity was imprinted with classical, correlated noise in the same quadratures that cause shot noise and radiation pressure noise. Couplings between these quadratures due to a movable mirror, sensitive to radiation pressure, cause the excess classical noise to cancel. This cancellation was shown to improve the signal to noise ratio of an injected signal by approximately a factor of 10
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