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

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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.