Jena 2013 – scientific programme
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GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie
GR 4: Gravitationswellen II
GR 4.1: Talk
Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 14:00–14:15, HS 6
Silicon - A potential test mass material for future GW detectors — •Jessica Steinlechner1, Gerd Hofmann2, Alexander Khalaidovski1, Julius Komma2, Christoph Krüger1, Christian Schwarz2, Sebastian Steinlechner1, Ronny Nawrodt2, and Roman Schnabel1 — 1Institut für Gravitationsphysik, Leibniz Universität Hannover and Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut), Callinstr. 38, 30167 Hannover, Germany — 2Institut für Festkörperphysik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Helmholtzweg 5, 07743 Jena, Germany
Today's gravitational wave (GW) detectors use test mass mirrors made from fused silica and a laser wavelength of 1064 nm. Future GW detectors such as the Einstein Telescope (ET) [1,2] consider cryogenic cooling of the test-masses to reduce their thermal noise. Due to its high mechanical quality factor at low temperatures and a high heat conductivity, silicon is a promising new test-mass material. An important question is whether the optical absorption of silicon is low enough since some of the test masses require the transmission of intense laser radiation. At 1550 nm silicon is expected to show a rather low optical absorption, however, precise absorption coefficients are not known. This talk deals with the absorption characteristics of crystalline silicon at a wavelength of 1550 nm.
[1] M. Punturo et al., Class. Quantum Grav. 27, 194002 (2010).
[2] B. Sathyaprakash et al., Class. Quantum Grav. 29, 124013 (2012).