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1. Thermal noise and mechanical loss of SiO ₂ /Ta ₂ O ₅ optical coatings at cryogenic temperatures

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.413758  

   Robinson, John M. ; Oelker, Eric ; Milner, William R. ; Kedar, Dhruv ; Zhang, Wei ; Legero, Thomas ; Matei, Dan G. ; Häfner, Sebastian ; Riehle, Fritz ; Sterr, Uwe ; et al ( January 2021 , Optics Letters)

   Mechanical loss of dielectric mirror coatings sets fundamental limits for both gravitational wave detectors and cavity-stabilized optical local oscillators for atomic clocks. Two approaches are used to determine the mechanical loss: ringdown measurements of the coating quality factor and direct measurement of the coating thermal noise. Here we report a systematic study of the mirror thermal noise at 4, 16, 124, and 300 K by operating reference cavities at these temperatures. The directly measured thermal noise is used to extract the mechanical loss for${\mathrm{S}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{O}}_2/{\mathrm{T}\mathrm{a}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_5$coatings, which are compared with previously reported values.
2. A Multi-Step Approach to Assessing LIGO Test Mass Coatings

   https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/957/1/012010  

   Glover, Lamar ; Goff, Michael ; Linker, Seth ; Neilson, Joshua ; Patel, Jignesh ; Pinto, Innocenzo ; Principe, Maria ; Villarama, Ethan ; Arriaga, Eddy ; Barragan, Erik ; et al ( January 2018 , Journal of physics. Conference series)

   Photographs of the LIGO Gravitational Wave detector mirrors illuminated by the standing beam were analyzed with an astronomical software tool designed to identify stars within images, which extracted hundreds of thousands of point-like scatterers uniformly distributed across the mirror surface, likely distributed through the depth of the coating layers. The sheer number of the observed scatterers implies a fundamental, thermodynamic origin during deposition or processing. If identified as crystallites, these scatterers would be a possible source of the mirror dissipation and thermal noise, which limit the sensitivity of observatories to Gravitational Waves. In order to learn more about the composition and location of the detected scatterers, a feasibility study is underway to develop a method that determines the location of the scatterers by producing a complete mapping of scatterers within test samples, including their depth distribution, optical amplitude distribution, and lateral distribution. Also, research is underway to accurately identify future materials and/or coating methods that possess the largest possible mechanical quality factor (Q). Current efforts propose a new experimental approach that will more precisely measure the Q of coatings by depositing them onto 100 nm Silicon Nitride membranes.
3. Comparison of methods for coupled earthquake and tsunami modelling

   https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggad053  

   Abrahams, Lauren S. ; Krenz, Lukas ; Dunham, Eric M. ; Gabriel, Alice-Agnes ; Saito, Tatsuhiko ( February 2023 , Geophysical Journal International)

   Tsunami generation by offshore earthquakes is a problem of scientific interest and practical relevance, and one that requires numerical modelling for data interpretation and hazard assessment. Most numerical models utilize two-step methods with one-way coupling between separate earthquake and tsunami models, based on approximations that might limit the applicability and accuracy of the resulting solution. In particular, standard methods focus exclusively on tsunami wave modelling, neglecting larger amplitude ocean acoustic and seismic waves that are superimposed on tsunami waves in the source region. In this study, we compare four earthquake-tsunami modelling methods. We identify dimensionless parameters to quantitatively approximate dominant wave modes in the earthquake-tsunami source region, highlighting how the method assumptions affect the results and discuss which methods are appropriate for various applications such as interpretation of data from offshore instruments in the source region. Most methods couple a 3-D solid earth model, which provides the seismic wavefield or at least the static elastic displacements, with a 2-D depth-averaged shallow water tsunami model. Assuming the ocean is incompressible and tsunami propagation is negligible over the earthquake duration leads to the instantaneous source method, which equates the static earthquake seafloor uplift with the initial tsunami sea surface height. Formore »longer duration earthquakes, it is appropriate to follow the time-dependent source method, which uses time-dependent earthquake seafloor velocity as a forcing term in the tsunami mass balance. Neither method captures ocean acoustic or seismic waves, motivating more advanced methods that capture the full wavefield. The superposition method of Saito et al. solves the 3-D elastic and acoustic equations to model the seismic wavefield and response of a compressible ocean without gravity. Then, changes in sea surface height from the zero-gravity solution are used as a forcing term in a separate tsunami simulation, typically run with a shallow water solver. A superposition of the earthquake and tsunami solutions provides an approximation to the complete wavefield. This method is algorithmically a two-step method. The complete wavefield is captured in the fully coupled method, which utilizes a coupled solid Earth and compressible ocean model with gravity. The fully coupled method, recently incorporated into the 3-D open-source code SeisSol, simultaneously solves earthquake rupture, seismic waves and ocean response (including gravity). We show that the superposition method emerges as an approximation to the fully coupled method subject to often well-justified assumptions. Furthermore, using the fully coupled method, we examine how the source spectrum and ocean depth influence the expression of oceanic Rayleigh waves. Understanding the range of validity of each method, as well as its computational expense, facilitates the selection of modelling methods for the accurate assessment of earthquake and tsunami hazards and the interpretation of data from offshore instruments.

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4. Exploration of co-sputtered Ta ₂ O ₅ –ZrO ₂ thin films for gravitational-wave detectors

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/ac1b06  

   Abernathy, M ; Amato, A ; Ananyeva, A ; Angelova, S ; Baloukas, B ; Bassiri, R ; Billingsley, G ; Birney, R ; Cagnoli, G ; Canepa, M ; et al ( September 2021 , Classical and Quantum Gravity)

   Abstract We report on the development and extensive characterization of co-sputtered tantala–zirconia (Ta 2 O 5 -ZrO 2 ) thin films, with the goal to decrease coating Brownian noise in present and future gravitational-wave detectors. We tested a variety of sputtering processes of different energies and deposition rates, and we considered the effect of different values of cation ratio η = Zr/(Zr + Ta) and of post-deposition heat treatment temperature T a on the optical and mechanical properties of the films. Co-sputtered zirconia proved to be an efficient way to frustrate crystallization in tantala thin films, allowing for a substantial increase of the maximum annealing temperature and hence for a decrease of coating mechanical loss φ c . The lowest average coating loss was observed for an ion-beam sputtered sample with η = 0.485 ± 0.004 annealed at 800 °C, yielding φ ¯ c = 1.8 × 1 0 − 4 rad. All coating samples showed cracks after annealing. Although in principle our measurements are sensitive to such defects, we found no evidence that our results were affected. The issue could be solved, at least for ion-beam sputtered coatings, by decreasing heating and cooling rates down to 7 °C hmore »−1 . While we observed as little optical absorption as in the coatings of current gravitational-wave interferometers (0.5 parts per million), further development will be needed to decrease light scattering and avoid the formation of defects upon annealing.« less
5. Demonstration of dynamic thermal compensation for parametric instability suppression in Advanced LIGO

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/ab8be9  

   Hardwick, T. ; Hamedan, V. J. ; Blair, C. ; Green, A. C. ; Vander-Hyde, D. ( September 2020 , Classical and Quantum Gravity)

   Advanced LIGO and other ground-based interferometric gravitational-wave detectors use high laser power to minimize shot noise and suspended optics to reduce seismic noise coupling. This can result in an opto-mechanical coupling which can become unstable and saturate the interferometer control systems. The severity of these parametric instabilities scales with circulating laser power and first hindered LIGO operations in 2014. Static thermal tuning and active electrostatic damping have previously been used to control parametric instabilities at lower powers but are insufficient as power is increased. Here we report the first demonstration of dynamic thermal compensation to avoid parametric instability in an Advanced LIGO detector. Annular ring heaters that compensate central heating are used to tune the optical mode away from multiple problematic mirror resonance frequencies. We develop a single-cavity approximation model to simulate the optical beat note frequency during the central heating and ring heating transient. An experiment of dynamic ring heater tuning at the LIGO Livingston detector was carried out at 170 kW circulating power and, in agreement with our model, the third order optical beat note is controlled to avoid instability of the 15 and 15.5 kHz mechanical modes. We project that dynamic thermal compensation with ring heatermore »input conditioning can be used in parallel with acoustic mode dampers to control the optical mode transient and avoid parametric instability of these modes up to Advanced LIGO’s design circulating power of 750  kW. The experiment also demonstrates the use of three mode interaction monitoring as a sensor of the cavity geometry, used to maintain theg-factor product tog₁g₂= 0.829 ± 0.004.

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