Titania Mixed with Silica: A Low Thermal-Noise Coating Material for Gravitational-Wave Detectors

Graeme I McGhee; Viola Spagnuolo; Nicholas Demos; Simon C Tait; Peter G Murray; Martin Chicoine; Paul Dabadie; Slawek Gras; Jim Hough; Guido Alex Iandolo; Ross Johnston; Valérie Martinez; Oli Patane; Sheila Rowan; François Schiettekatte; Joshua R Smith; Lukas Terkowski; Liyuan Zhang; Matthew Evans; Iain W Martin; Jessica Steinlechner

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.171401

Titania Mixed with Silica: A Low Thermal-Noise Coating Material for Gravitational-Wave Detectors

Graeme I McGhee, Viola Spagnuolo, Nicholas Demos, Simon C Tait, Peter G Murray, Martin Chicoine, Paul Dabadie, Slawek Gras, Jim Hough, Guido Alex Iandolo, Ross Johnston, Valérie Martinez, Oli Patane, Sheila Rowan, François Schiettekatte, Joshua R Smith, Lukas Terkowski, Liyuan Zhang, Matthew Evans, Iain W MartinJessica Steinlechner

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Coating thermal noise is one of the dominant noise sources in current gravitational wave detectors and ultimately limits their ability to observe weaker or more distant astronomical sources. This Letter presents investigations of TiO2 mixed with SiO2 (TiO2:SiO2) as a coating material. We find that, after heat treatment for 100 h at 850 °C, thermal noise of a highly reflective coating comprising of TiO2:SiO2 and SiO2 reduces to 76% of the current levels in the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors—with potential for reaching 45%, if we assume the mechanical loss of state-of-the-art SiO2 layers. Furthermore, those coatings show low optical absorption of <1 ppm and optical scattering of ≲5 ppm. Notably, we still observe excellent optical and thermal noise performance following crystallization in the coatings. These results show the potential to meet the parameters required for the next upgrades of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors.

Original language	English
Article number	171401
Pages (from-to)	171401
Number of pages	7
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	131
Issue number	17
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.171401
Publication status	Published - 27 Oct 2023

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.171401Licence: CC BY

Cite this

McGhee, G. I., Spagnuolo, V., Demos, N., Tait, S. C., Murray, P. G., Chicoine, M., Dabadie, P., Gras, S., Hough, J., Iandolo, G. A., Johnston, R., Martinez, V., Patane, O., Rowan, S., Schiettekatte, F., Smith, J. R., Terkowski, L., Zhang, L., Evans, M., ... Steinlechner, J. (2023). Titania Mixed with Silica: A Low Thermal-Noise Coating Material for Gravitational-Wave Detectors. Physical Review Letters, 131(17), 171401. Article 171401. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.171401

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title = "Titania Mixed with Silica: A Low Thermal-Noise Coating Material for Gravitational-Wave Detectors",

abstract = "Coating thermal noise is one of the dominant noise sources in current gravitational wave detectors and ultimately limits their ability to observe weaker or more distant astronomical sources. This Letter presents investigations of TiO2 mixed with SiO2 (TiO2:SiO2) as a coating material. We find that, after heat treatment for 100 h at 850 °C, thermal noise of a highly reflective coating comprising of TiO2:SiO2 and SiO2 reduces to 76% of the current levels in the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors—with potential for reaching 45%, if we assume the mechanical loss of state-of-the-art SiO2 layers. Furthermore, those coatings show low optical absorption of <1 ppm and optical scattering of ≲5 ppm. Notably, we still observe excellent optical and thermal noise performance following crystallization in the coatings. These results show the potential to meet the parameters required for the next upgrades of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors.",

author = "McGhee, {Graeme I} and Viola Spagnuolo and Nicholas Demos and Tait, {Simon C} and Murray, {Peter G} and Martin Chicoine and Paul Dabadie and Slawek Gras and Jim Hough and Iandolo, {Guido Alex} and Ross Johnston and Val{\'e}rie Martinez and Oli Patane and Sheila Rowan and Fran{\c c}ois Schiettekatte and Smith, {Joshua R} and Lukas Terkowski and Liyuan Zhang and Matthew Evans and Martin, {Iain W} and Jessica Steinlechner",

year = "2023",

month = oct,

day = "27",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.171401",

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McGhee, GI, Spagnuolo, V, Demos, N, Tait, SC, Murray, PG, Chicoine, M, Dabadie, P, Gras, S, Hough, J, Iandolo, GA, Johnston, R, Martinez, V, Patane, O, Rowan, S, Schiettekatte, F, Smith, JR, Terkowski, L, Zhang, L, Evans, M, Martin, IW & Steinlechner, J 2023, 'Titania Mixed with Silica: A Low Thermal-Noise Coating Material for Gravitational-Wave Detectors', Physical Review Letters, vol. 131, no. 17, 171401, pp. 171401. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.171401

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AU - McGhee, Graeme I

AU - Spagnuolo, Viola

AU - Demos, Nicholas

AU - Tait, Simon C

AU - Murray, Peter G

AU - Chicoine, Martin

AU - Dabadie, Paul

AU - Gras, Slawek

AU - Hough, Jim

AU - Iandolo, Guido Alex

AU - Johnston, Ross

AU - Martinez, Valérie

AU - Patane, Oli

AU - Rowan, Sheila

AU - Schiettekatte, François

AU - Smith, Joshua R

AU - Terkowski, Lukas

AU - Zhang, Liyuan

AU - Evans, Matthew

AU - Martin, Iain W

AU - Steinlechner, Jessica

PY - 2023/10/27

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AB - Coating thermal noise is one of the dominant noise sources in current gravitational wave detectors and ultimately limits their ability to observe weaker or more distant astronomical sources. This Letter presents investigations of TiO2 mixed with SiO2 (TiO2:SiO2) as a coating material. We find that, after heat treatment for 100 h at 850 °C, thermal noise of a highly reflective coating comprising of TiO2:SiO2 and SiO2 reduces to 76% of the current levels in the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors—with potential for reaching 45%, if we assume the mechanical loss of state-of-the-art SiO2 layers. Furthermore, those coatings show low optical absorption of <1 ppm and optical scattering of ≲5 ppm. Notably, we still observe excellent optical and thermal noise performance following crystallization in the coatings. These results show the potential to meet the parameters required for the next upgrades of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors.

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DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.171401

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