Abstract
Third generation terrestrial interferometric gravitational wave detectors will likely require significant advances in laser and optical technologies to reduce two of the main limiting noise sources: thermal noise due to mirror coatings and quantum noise arising from a combination of shot noise and radiation pressure noise. Increases in laser power and possible changes of the operational wavelength require new high power laser sources and new electro-optic modulators and Faraday isolators. Squeezed light can be used to further reduce the quantum noise while nano-structured optical components can be used to reduce or eliminate mirror coating thermal noise as well as to implement all-reflective interferometer configurations to avoid thermal effects in mirror substrates. This paper is intended to give an overview on the current state-of-the-art and future trends in these areas of ongoing research and development.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Vincent Fratello for useful discussions concerning materials for long and short wavelength Faraday isolators. G.M and D.H.R gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (PHY0555453, PHY0757968, and PHY0653582) and R.S. and B.W. the support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 407, SFB TR7 and QUEST).
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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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Mavalvala, N., McClelland, D.E., Mueller, G. et al. Lasers and optics: looking towards third generation gravitational wave detectors. Gen Relativ Gravit 43, 569–592 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-010-1023-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-010-1023-3