An RUI proposal to study optical coatings, gravitational wave bursts above 1 kHz, and upconverted noise in suspension wires

该奖项支持为下一代干涉引力波探测、高级LIGO和其他技术改进光学涂层的研究。高级LIGO的峰值灵敏度受到应用于高级LIGO测试质量的光学涂层的热噪声的限制。换句话说，随着涂层热噪声的降低，我们可以预期使用Advanced LIGO探测引力波事件的速度会提高。由光学涂层引起并影响电位检测率的另一个重要噪声源是来自光学涂层的热光噪声。除了对Advanced LIGO的重大影响外，这些噪声源严重限制了未来地面干涉引力波探测器的潜力。该奖项支持对Advanced LIGO原型涂层的热噪声和热光噪声进行表征和降低水平的研究，以及对Advanced LIGO未来潜在升级的研究。在适当的时候，还研究了其他涂层属性，例如光学散射。安布里-里德尔航空大学是一所以技术为导向的机构，吸引了大量有兴趣参与教职研究的本科生。这一奖项使其中一些学生，特别是空间物理学学位课程的学生，能够以非常重要的方式从事与LIGO相关的研究。参与P.I.S研究的几名恩布里-里德尔学生后来参加了与LIGO相关的外部实习，比如加州理工大学的LIGO SURF项目，以及苏格兰格拉斯哥大学的本科生研究员。这些经历帮助我们的学生在科学和研究方面取得了丰硕的成就。

This award supports research on improving optical coatings for next generation interferometric gravitational wave detection, Advanced LIGO and beyond. The peak sensitivity of Advanced LIGO is limited by thermal noise from the optical coatings applied to the Advanced LIGO test masses. In other words, the rate at which we can expect to detect gravitational wave events with Advanced LIGO goes up as coating thermal noise is reduced. Another significant noise source due to the optical coatings and affecting the rate of potential detections is thermo-optic noise from the optical coatings. In addition to the significant effect on Advanced LIGO, these noise sources place serious limits on the potential for future ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors. This award supports research to characterize and reduce the level of both thermal noise and thermo-optic noise from prototype coatings for Advanced LIGO and for potential future upgrades to Advanced LIGO. Other coating properties, such as optical scatter are also investigated when appropriate. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is a technically oriented institution attracting a large number of undergraduate physics students interested in participating in faculty research. This award enables a number of those students, particularly in the space physics degree program, to engage in a very significant way with LIGO-related research. Several Embry-Riddle students involved in the P.I.'s research have gone on to participate in external LIGO-related internships such as the LIGO SURF program at Caltech and as undergraduate researchers at Glasgow University in Scotland. These experiences help to propel our students to fruitful carears in science and research.