125 research outputs found
Effects of mode degeneracy in the LIGO Livingston Observatory recycling cavity
We analyze the electromagnetic fields in a Pound-Drever-Hall locked,
marginally unstable, Fabry-Perot cavity as a function of small changes in the
cavity length during resonance. More specifically, we compare the results of a
detailed numerical model with the behavior of the recycling cavity of the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detector that is located
in Livingston, Louisiana. In the interferometer's normal mode of operation, the
recycling cavity is stabilized by inducing a thermal lens in the cavity mirrors
with an external CO2 laser. During the study described here, this thermal
compensation system was not operating, causing the cavity to be marginally
optically unstable and cavity modes to become degenerate. In contrast to stable
optical cavities, the modal content of the resonating beam in the uncompensated
recycling cavity is significantly altered by very small cavity length changes.
This modifies the error signals used to control the cavity length in such a way
that the zero crossing point is no longer the point of maximum power in the
cavity nor is it the point where the input beam mode in the cavity is
maximized.Comment: Eight pages in two-column format. Six color figures. To be published
JOSA
Adaptive thermal compensation of test masses in advanced LIGO
As the first generation of laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors
near operation, research and development has begun on increasing the
instrument's sensitivity while utilizing the existing infrastructure. In the
Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), significant
improvements are being planned for installation in ~2007, increasing strain
sensitivity through improved suspensions and test mass substrates, active
seismic isolation, and higher input laser power. Even with the highest quality
optics available today, however, finite absorption of laser power within
transmissive optics, coupled with the tremendous amount of optical power
circulating in various parts of the interferometer, result in critical
wavefront deformations which would cripple the performance of the instrument.
Discussed is a method of active wavefront correction via direct thermal
actuation on optical elements of the interferometer. A simple nichrome heating
element suspended off the face of an affected optic will, through radiative
heating, remove the gross axisymmetric part of the original thermal distortion.
A scanning heating laser will then be used to remove any remaining
non-axisymmetric wavefront distortion, generated by inhomogeneities in the
substrate's absorption, thermal conductivity, etc. A proof-of-principle
experiment has been constructed at MIT, selected data of which are presented.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit
Optimal combination of signals from co-located gravitational wave interferometers for use in searches for a stochastic background
This article derives an optimal (i.e., unbiased, minimum variance) estimator
for the pseudo-detector strain for a pair of co-located gravitational wave
interferometers (such as the pair of LIGO interferometers at its Hanford
Observatory), allowing for possible instrumental correlations between the two
detectors. The technique is robust and does not involve any assumptions or
approximations regarding the relative strength of gravitational wave signals in
the detector pair with respect to other sources of correlated instrumental or
environmental noise. An expression is given for the effective power spectral
density of the combined noise in the pseudo-detector. This can then be
introduced into the standard optimal Wiener filter used to cross-correlate
detector data streams in order to obtain an optimal estimate of the stochastic
gravitational wave background. In addition, a dual to the optimal estimate of
strain is derived. This dual is constructed to contain no gravitational wave
signature and can thus be used as on "off-source" measurement to test
algorithms used in the "on-source" observation.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review D Resubmitted after
editing paper in response to referee comments. Removed appendices A, B and
edited text accordingly. Improved legibility of figures. Corrected several
references. Corrected reference to science run number (S1 vs. S2) in text and
figure caption
Seismic isolation of Advanced LIGO: Review of strategy, instrumentation and performance
The new generation of gravitational waves detectors require unprecedented levels of isolation from seismic noise. This article reviews the seismic isolation strategy and instrumentation developed for the Advanced LIGO observatories. It summarizes over a decade of research on active inertial isolation and shows the performance recently achieved at the Advanced LIGO observatories. The paper emphasizes the scientific and technical challenges of this endeavor and how they have been addressed. An overview of the isolation strategy is given. It combines multiple layers of passive and active inertial isolation to provide suitable rejection of seismic noise at all frequencies. A detailed presentation of the three active platforms that have been developed is given. They are the hydraulic pre-isolator, the single-stage internal isolator and the two-stage internal isolator. The architecture, instrumentation, control scheme and isolation results are presented for each of the three systems. Results show that the seismic isolation sub-system meets Advanced LIGO's stringent requirements and robustly supports the operation of the two detectors.Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave ObservatoryNational Science Foundation (U.S.
LOOC UP: Locating and observing optical counterparts to gravitational wave bursts
Gravitational wave (GW) bursts (short duration signals) are expected to be
associated with highly energetic astrophysical processes. With such high
energies present, it is likely these astrophysical events will have signatures
in the EM spectrum as well as in gravitational radiation. We have initiated a
program, "Locating and Observing Optical Counterparts to Unmodeled Pulses in
Gravitational Waves" (LOOC UP) to promptly search for counterparts to GW burst
candidates. The proposed method analyzes near real-time data from the
LIGO-Virgo network, and then uses a telescope network to seek optical-transient
counterparts to candidate GW signals. We carried out a pilot study using
S5/VSR1 data from the LIGO-Virgo network to develop methods and software tools
for such a search. We will present the method, with an emphasis on the
potential for such a search to be carried out during the next science run of
LIGO and Virgo, expected to begin in 2009.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures; v2) added acknowledgments, additional
references, and minor text changes v3) added 1 figure, additional references,
and minor text changes. v4) Updated references and acknowledgments. To be
published in the GWDAW 12 Conf. Proc. by Classical and Quantum Gravit
Thermal noise in interferometric gravitational wave detectors due to dielectric optical coatings
We report on thermal noise from the internal friction of dielectric coatings
made from alternating layers of Ta2O5 and SiO2 deposited on fused silica
substrates. We present calculations of the thermal noise in gravitational wave
interferometers due to optical coatings, when the material properties of the
coating are different from those of the substrate and the mechanical loss angle
in the coating is anisotropic. The loss angle in the coatings for strains
parallel to the substrate surface was determined from ringdown experiments. We
measured the mechanical quality factor of three fused silica samples with
coatings deposited on them. The loss angle of the coating material for strains
parallel to the coated surface was found to be (4.2 +- 0.3)*10^(-4) for
coatings deposited on commercially polished slides and (1.0 +- 0.3)*10^{-4} for
a coating deposited on a superpolished disk. Using these numbers, we estimate
the effect of coatings on thermal noise in the initial LIGO and advanced LIGO
interferometers. We also find that the corresponding prediction for thermal
noise in the 40 m LIGO prototype at Caltech is consistent with the noise data.
These results are complemented by results for a different type of coating,
presented in a companion paper.Comment: Submitted to LSC (internal) review Sept. 20, 2001. To be submitted to
Phys. Lett.
DC readout experiment in Enhanced LIGO
The two 4 km long gravitational wave detectors operated by the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) were modified in 2008 to
read out the gravitational wave channel using the DC readout form of homodyne
detection and to include an optical filter cavity at the output of the
detector. As part of the upgrade to Enhanced LIGO, these modifications replaced
the radio-frequency (RF) heterodyne system used previously. We describe the
motivations for and the implementation of DC readout and the output mode
cleaner in Enhanced LIGO. We present characterizations of the system, including
measurements and models of the couplings of the noises from the laser source to
the gravitational wave readout channel. We show that noise couplings using DC
readout are improved over those for RF readout, and we find that the achieved
shot-noise-limited sensitivity is consistent with modeled results
Observation of a kilogram-scale oscillator near its quantum ground state
We introduce a novel cooling technique capable of approaching the quantum ground state of a kilogram-scale system—an interferometric gravitational wave detector. The detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) operate within a factor of 10 of the standard quantum limit (SQL), providing a displacement sensitivity of 10[superscript −18] m in a 100 Hz band centered on 150 Hz. With a new feedback strategy, we dynamically shift the resonant frequency of a 2.7 kg pendulum mode to lie within this optimal band, where its effective temperature falls as low as 1.4 μK, and its occupation number reaches about 200 quanta. This work shows how the exquisite sensitivity necessary to detect gravitational waves can be made available to probe the validity of quantum mechanics on an enormous mass scale.Alfred P. Sloan FoundationUnited States. National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationDavid & Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationNational Science Foundation (U.S.
First all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from unknown sources in binary systems
We present the first results of an all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from unknown spinning neutron stars in binary systems using LIGO and Virgo data. Using a specially developed analysis program, the TwoSpect algorithm, the search was carried out on data from the sixth LIGO science run and the second and third Virgo science runs. The search covers a range of frequencies from 20 Hz to 520 Hz, a range of orbital periods from 2 to ∼2,254  h and a frequency- and period-dependent range of frequency modulation depths from 0.277 to 100 mHz. This corresponds to a range of projected semimajor axes of the orbit from ∼0.6 × 10[superscript −3]  ls to ∼6,500  ls assuming the orbit of the binary is circular. While no plausible candidate gravitational wave events survive the pipeline, upper limits are set on the analyzed data. The most sensitive 95% confidence upper limit obtained on gravitational wave strain is 2.3 × 10[superscript −24] at 217 Hz, assuming the source waves are circularly polarized. Although this search has been optimized for circular binary orbits, the upper limits obtained remain valid for orbital eccentricities as large as 0.9. In addition, upper limits are placed on continuous gravitational wave emission from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1 between 20 Hz and 57.25 Hz.National Science Foundation (U.S.)United States. National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationCarnegie TrustDavid & Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan Foundatio
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