Collaborative Research: Center for Coatings Research

合作研究：涂料研究中心

• 批准号: 2309293
• 负责人: Gregory Harry
• 金额: $ 7.94万
• 依托单位: American University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2309293&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Center; Coatings

The Center for Coatings Research (CCR) focuses on the development of advanced mirror coatings for gravitational wave detectors, a new and booming field of observational astrophysics. By reducing mechanical loss and thus thermal noise in mirror coatings, the project aims to enhance the sensitivity of Cosmic Explorer (CE), the proposed third generation gravitational wave detector. This research holds significant importance as it expands our understanding of the universe by enabling observations of cosmic events, such as the collision of remnants from the first stars. Moreover, the project has broader impacts on precision measurement technology, benefiting areas like precision timing, quantum information, low noise interferometry, and the search for deviations in the gravitational inverse-square law. The outcomes of this research can also have implications for the semiconductor, laser, and quantum computing communities, as correlations between mechanical loss and other loss mechanisms are explored. Additionally, this collaboration between materials science and gravitational wave communities promotes education and diversity, providing research opportunities for students at different education levels and advancing the participation of women and underrepresented minorities.This project aims to develop mirror coatings that meet the mechanical and optical requirements for implementation in CE. Through extending the length of the interferometer arms from the current 4 km to 20 and/or 40 km systems, CE's observational reach will be significantly expanded. To fully utilize this infrastructure, improvements are necessary in the mirror coatings' mechanical loss and thermal noise reduction. The CCR combines groups working on coating deposition, characterization of atomic structure and macroscopic material properties, and computational modeling. These components are often performed by three diverse communities that work in relative isolation from each other. The strength of the CCR and its promise for accelerating discoveries arises from close integration of these communities focusing on a unified research goal. Since the formation of the CCR in 2017, the collaboration has become a knowledge repository for gravitational wave detector coatings research, making significant progress on all the proposed research directions, including uncovering atomic structural motifs associated with room temperature vs cryogenic mechanical losses, using that understanding to develop Ti:GeO2 coatings that can meet the requirements for Advanced LIGO + (A+). Going forward research efforts include the development of improved amorphous coatings and crystalline AlGaAs coatings. The project will investigate atomic structural motifs associated with mechanical losses at different temperatures, aiming for at least a two-fold reduction in thermal noise compared to Advanced LIGO + coatings. CCR contributions have implications for precision measurement, impacting various fields and potentially benefiting the semiconductor, laser, and quantum computing communities. Overall, this research advances the field of gravitational wave detection, supports education at multiple levels, and promotes diversity within the physical sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

涂层研究中心（CCR）专注于开发用于引力波探测器的先进镜面涂层，这是观测天体物理学中一个新兴的蓬勃发展的领域。通过减少镜面涂层的机械损耗和热噪声，该项目旨在提高第三代引力波探测器宇宙探测器（CE）的灵敏度。这项研究具有重要意义，因为它扩大了我们对宇宙事件的理解，例如第一批恒星残余物的碰撞。此外，该项目对精密测量技术有更广泛的影响，有利于精密定时、量子信息、低噪声干涉测量和寻找引力平方反比定律偏差等领域。这项研究的结果也可以对半导体、激光和量子计算社区产生影响，因为探索了机械损耗和其他损耗机制之间的相关性。此外，材料科学和引力波社区之间的合作促进了教育和多样性，为不同教育水平的学生提供了研究机会，并促进了女性和未被充分代表的少数民族的参与。该项目旨在开发符合CE实施的机械和光学要求的镜面涂层。通过将干涉仪臂的长度从目前的4公里扩展到20公里和/或40公里系统，欧空局的观测范围将大大扩大。为了充分利用这一基础设施，需要改进反射镜涂层的机械损耗和降低热噪声。CCR结合了研究涂层沉积、原子结构表征和宏观材料特性以及计算建模的小组。这些组件通常由三个不同的社区执行，它们彼此相对隔离地工作。CCR的力量及其对加速发现的承诺来自这些专注于统一研究目标的社区的密切整合。自2017年CCR成立以来，该合作已成为引力波探测器涂层研究的知识库，在所有拟议的研究方向上取得了重大进展，包括揭示与室温与低温机械损失相关的原子结构基元，并利用这一理解开发能够满足高级LIGO + (a +)要求的Ti:GeO2涂层。未来的研究工作包括改进非晶涂层和晶体AlGaAs涂层的开发。该项目将研究不同温度下与机械损耗相关的原子结构特征，目标是与先进的LIGO +涂层相比，至少将热噪声降低两倍。CCR的贡献对精确测量有影响，影响各个领域，并可能使半导体、激光和量子计算社区受益。总的来说，这项研究推动了引力波探测领域的发展，支持了多层次的教育，促进了物理科学的多样性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。