Proposal for MRI/RUI funds to Acquire a Vacuum Annealing Oven for Advanced LIGO Test Masses and Mini-Cluster to Analyze Bilinear Noise in Initial LIGO

该奖项支持收购一个中等规模的真空退火炉，用于处理下一代激光干涉引力波天文台（Advanced LIGO）考虑使用的熔融石英和其他材料。这个烤箱将允许研究光学材料和适合Advanced LIGO尺寸的涂层的热和机械噪声。 Advanced LIGO的测试质量块将由蓝宝石或熔融石英制成。蓝宝石在大多数标准下具有优良的机械上级性能，但是在低频下具有增加的损耗，并且目前具有不可接受的高光学吸收。熔融二氧化硅具有低吸收性，并且对于适当制备的样品，具有低于Advanced LIGO设计限制的机械损失。然而，这种低机械损耗在大样品中从未见过。PI将与其他LIGO科学家合作，研究熔融石英中的损耗机制，以努力制造大型、低损耗的光学器件。LIGO和Advanced LIGO旨在寻找引力波，其直接探测将为宇宙中一些最剧烈的事件（如黑洞碰撞和超新星爆炸）打开新的窗口。退火炉将用于研究先进LIGO发展的关键路径。本科生将参与退火炉的设置和使用。

This award supports the acquisition of a moderately large vacuum annealing oven to process pieces of fused silica and other materials considered for use by the next generation of the Laser Interferometric Gravitational wave Observatory (Advanced LIGO). This oven will allow research into the thermal and mechanical noise of optical materials and coatings of a size appropriate for Advanced LIGO. The test masses for Advanced LIGO are to be made from either sapphire or fused silica. Sapphire is mechanically superior under most criteria but suffers from increased loss at low frequencies and, at present, unacceptably high optical absorption. Fused silica has low absorption and has a mechanical loss that, for suitably prepared samples, is below the Advanced LIGO design limits. However, this low mechanical loss has never been seen in large samples. The PI in collaboration with other LIGO scientists will study loss mechanisms in fused silica in an effort to make large, low loss optics.LIGO and Advanced LIGO are designed to search for gravitational waves whose direct detection would open a new window on some of the universe's most violent events such as black hole collisions and supernova explosions. The annealing oven will be used in research on the critical path to the development of Advanced LIGO. Undergraduates will participate in the set up and use of the annealing oven.