Compact Michelson interferometers with subpicometer sensitivity

Abstract

The network of interferometric gravitational-wave observatories has successfully detected tens of astrophysical signals since 2015. In this paper, we experimentally investigate compact sensors that have the potential to improve the sensitivity of gravitational-wave detectors to intermediate-mass black holes. We use only commercial components, such as sensing heads and lasers, to assemble the setup and demonstrate its subpicometer precision. The setup consists of a pair of Michelson interferferometers that use deep frequency modulation techniques to obtain a linear, relative displacement readout over multiple interference fringes. We implement a laser-frequency stabilisation scheme to achieve a sensitivity of 0.3\,$\text{pm}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ above 0.1\,Hz. The device has also the potential to improve other experiments, such as torsion balances and commercial seismometers.

7 pages, 3 figures

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• Designing Gram-Scale Resonators for Precision Inertial Sensors
• Integrating high-precision and fringe-scale displacement sensing using heterodyne cavity-tracking
• Gravitational radiation of a spherically symmetric source in $f(R)$-gravitation
• First result for testing semiclassical gravity effect with a torsion balance
• Reducing suspension control noise with interferometric sensors -- an experimental concept
• Extending Ground-Based Gravitational-Wave Sensitivity to 5 Hz