Compensation for thermal effects in mirrors of gravitational wave interferometers

Abstract:

In this paper we study several means of compensating for thermal lensing which, otherwise, should be a source of concern for future upgrades of interferometric detectors of gravitational waves. The methods we develop are based on the principle of heating the cold parts of the mirrors. We find that thermal compensation can help a lot but can not do miracles. It seems finally that the best strategy for future upgrades (“advanced configurations”) is may be to use thermal compensation together with another substrate materials than silica, for example sapphire.