Characterization of ion-beam-sputtered AlF${}_3$ thin films for gravitational-wave interferometers

Abstract

Thermal noise in amorphous coatings is a limitation for a wide range of precision experiments such as gravitational-wave detectors (GWDs). Mirrors for GWDs are composed of multiple thin layers of dielectric materials deposited on a substrate: the stack is made of layers with a high refractive index interleaved with layers of a low refractive index. The goal is to obtain high reflectivity and low thermal noise. In this paper we report on the optical and mechanical properties of ion-beam-sputtered aluminium fluoride (AlF${}_3$) thin films which have one of the lowest refractive index among the known coating materials and we discuss their application in current and future GWDs.

arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2111.01646

References in corpus (4)

• Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
• Exploring the Sensitivity of Next Generation Gravitational Wave Detectors
• Low mechanical loss TiO${}_2$:GeO${}_2$ coatings for reduced thermal noise in Gravitational Wave Interferometers
• Optical and mechanical properties of ion-beam-sputtered MgF${}_2$ thin films for gravitational-wave interferometers