Thermo-optic noise in coated mirrors for high-precision optical measurements

Understand

Thermal fluctuations in the coatings used to make high-reflectors are becoming significant noise sources in precision optical measurements and are particularly relevant to advanced gravitational wave detectors.

• There are two recognized sources of coating thermal noise, mechanical loss and thermal dissipation.
• Thermal dissipation causes thermal fluctuations in the coating which produce noise via the thermo-elastic and thermo-refractive mechanisms.
• We treat these mechanisms coherently, give a correction for finite coating thickness, and evaluate the implications for Advanced LIGO.