Advanced LIGO: non-Gaussian beams

By using non-Gaussian, flat-topped beams in the advanced gravitational wave interferometers currently being designed, one can reduce the impact on the interferometer sensitivity of a variety of fundamental disturbances (thermoelastic noise, noise in mirror coatings, thermal lensing, etc). This may make beating the standard quantum limit an achievable goal

Signal extraction and length sensing for LIGO II RSE

In anticipation of an upgrade of the LIGO detector to an advanced configuration in 2004, a tabletop prototype of resonant sideband extraction is being designed and constructed at Caltech. We present here two frontally modulated length sensing and control schemes, one in which the signal extraction/recycling mirror is a simple mirror, and one in which it is a Fabry-Perot cavity. Issues regarding the controllability, RF sideband transmission, shot noise, and noise couplings are discussed

Digital pathology with Fourier ptychography

Fourier ptychographic microscopy (FPM) is a recently introduced method of acquiring high-resolution, wide field of view (FOV) giga-pixel histology images. The FPM procedure first acquires a sequence of low-resolution images of a sample under variable-angle illumination. It then combines these images using a novel phase retrieval algorithm to improve the employed microscope's resolution beyond its conventional limit. Here, we first describe how FPM's resolution improvement can enhance wide FOV histology imaging. Second, we show that FPM also records a thin sample's optical phase, which can help pathologists digitally extract as much information as possible from a given histology slide

Overview and Reassessment of Noise Budget of Starshade Exoplanet Imaging

High-contrast imaging enabled by a starshade in formation flight with a space telescope can provide a near-term pathway to search for and characterize temperate and small planets of nearby stars. NASA’s Starshade Technology Development Activity to TRL5 (S5) is rapidly maturing the required technologies to the point at which starshades could be integrated into potential future missions. Here we reappraise the noise budget of starshade-enabled exoplanet imaging to incorporate the experimentally demonstrated optical performance of the starshade and its optical edge. Our analyses of stray light sources – including the leakage through micrometeoroid damage and the reflection of bright celestial bodies – indicate that sunlight scattered by the optical edge (i.e., the solar glint) is by far the dominant stray light. With telescope and observation parameter that approximately correspond to Starshade Rendezvous with Roman and HabEx, we find that the dominating noise source would be exozodiacal light for characterizing a temperate and Earth-sized planet around Sun-like and earlier stars and the solar glint for later-type stars. Further reducing the brightness of solar glint by a factor of 10 with a coating would prevent it from becoming the dominant noise for both Roman and HabEx. With an instrument contrast of 10⁻¹⁰, the residual starlight is not a dominant noise; and increasing the contrast level by a factor 10 would not lead to any appreciable change in the expected science performance. If unbiased calibration of the background to the photon-noise limit can be achieved, Starshade Rendezvous with Roman could provide nearly photon-limited spectroscopy of temperate and Earth-sized planets of F, G, and K stars < 4 parsecs away, and HabEx could extend this capability to many more stars < 8 parsecs. Larger rocky planets around stars < 8 parsecs would be within the reach of Roman. To achieve these capabilities, the exozodiacal light may need to be calibrated to a precision better than 2% and the solar glint better than 5%. Our analysis shows that the expected temporal variability of the solar glint is unlikely to hinder the calibration, and the main challenge for background calibration likely comes from the unsmooth spatial distribution of exozodiacal dust in some stars. Taken together, these results validate the optical noise budget and technology milestones adopted by S5 against key science objectives and inform the priorities of future technology developments and science and industry community partnerships

Sensing and control in dual-recycling laser interferometer gravitational-wave detectors

We introduce length-sensing and control schemes for the dual-recycled cavity-enhanced Michelson interferometer configuration proposed for the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). We discuss the principles of this scheme and show methods that allow sensing and control signals to be derived. Experimental verification was carried out in three benchtop experiments that are introduced. We present the implications of the results from these experiments for Advanced LIGO and other future interferometric gravitational-wave detectors

Frequency and surface dependence of the mechanical loss in fused silica

We have compiled measurements of the mechanical loss in fused silica from samples spanning a wide range of geometries and resonant frequency in order to model the known variation of the loss with frequency and surface-to-volume ratio. This improved understanding of the mechanical loss has contributed significantly to the design of advanced interferometric gravitational wave detectors, which require ultra-low loss materials for their test mass mirrors.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure but 5 figure file

All-fiber zero-insertion-loss add-drop filter for wavelength-division multiplexing

We developed and fabricated an all-fiber add–drop filter by recording a Bragg grating in the waist of an asymmetric mode converter–coupler formed by adiabatic tapering and fusing of two locally dissimilar, single-mode optical fibers. The insertion loss of the device was ~0.1 dB. A narrow spectral bandwidth (90%) were also demonstrated. In addition, the filter was polarization independent

Overview of Advanced LIGO Adaptive Optics

This is an overview of the adaptive optics used in Advanced LIGO (aLIGO), known as the thermal compensation system (TCS). The TCS was designed to minimize thermally induced spatial distortions in the interferometer optical modes and to provide some correction for static curvature errors in the core optics of aLIGO. The TCS is comprised of ring heater actuators, spatially tunable CO_2 laser projectors, and Hartmann wavefront sensors. The system meets the requirements of correcting for nominal distortion in aLIGO to a maximum residual error of 5.4 nm rms, weighted across the laser beam, for up to 125 W of laser input power into the interferometer