Preventing and Reversing Vacuum-Induced Optical Losses in High-Finesse Tantalum (V) Oxide Mirror Coatings

Dorian Gangloff, Molu Shi, Tailin Wu +11

We study the vacuum-induced degradation of high-finesse optical cavities with mirror coatings composed of SiO${}_2$-Ta${}_2$O${}_5$ dielectric stacks, and present methods to protect…