Correlated evolution of structure and mechanical loss of a sputtered silica film

Abstract

Energy dissipation in amorphous coatings severely affects high-precision optical and quantum transducers. In order to isolate the source of coating loss, we performed an extensive study of Raman scattering and mechanical loss of a thermally-treated sputtered silica coating. Our results show that loss is correlated with the population of three-membered rings of Si-O${}_4$ tetrahedral units, and support the evidence that thermal treatment reduces the density of metastable states separated by a characteristic energy of about 0.5 eV, in favour of an increase of the states separated by smaller activation energies. Finally, we conclude that three-fold rings are involved in the relaxation mechanisms only if they belong to more complex chain-like structures of 10 to 100 tetrahedra.

arXiv comment5 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (10)

• Cavity Optomechanics
• Decoherence in Josephson Qubits from Dielectric Loss
• A sub-40 mHz linewidth laser based on a silicon single-crystal optical cavity
• Gravitational Radiation Detection with Laser Interferometry
• Frequency and surface dependence of the mechanical loss in fused silica
• Mechanical loss in state-of-the-art amorphous optical coatings
• Very high quality factor measured in annealed fused silica
• Permanently densified SiO${}_2$ glasses: a structural approach
• High-Reflection Coatings for Gravitational-Wave Detectors: State of The Art and Future Developments
• Material loss angles from direct measurements of broadband thermal noise

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Amorphous optical coatings of present gravitational-wave interferometers
• Low mechanical loss TiO${}_2$:GeO${}_2$ coatings for reduced thermal noise in Gravitational Wave Interferometers
• Progress in the measurement and reduction of thermal noise in optical coatings for gravitational-wave detectors
• Observation of a Correlation Between Internal friction and Urbach Energy in Amorphous Oxides Thin Films
• High-Reflection Coatings for Gravitational-Wave Detectors: State of The Art and Future Developments
• Enhanced Medium Range Order in Vapor Deposited Germania Glasses at Elevated Temperatures
• Exploration of co-sputtered Ta${}_2$O${}_5$-ZrO${}_2$ thin films for gravitational-wave detectors
• Structural evolution of binary oxide nanolaminates with annealing and its impact on room-temperature internal friction
• Effects of mixing and annealing on the optical and mechanical properties of TiO${}_2$:Ta${}_2$O${}_5$ amorphous coatings
• A Systematic Error in the Internal Friction Measurement of Coatings for Gravitational Waves Detectors
• Point defects in IBS coating for very low loss mirrors