Optical loss study of the cryogenic molecular layer using a folded cavity for future gravitational-wave detectors

• DOI: 10.1364/oe.415921
• Publication Date: 2021-01-20T16:32:10Z
• Authors: Satoshi Tanioka; Yoichi Aso
• Keywords: Cryogenics

In order to increase the number of detectable gravitational-wave sources, future detectors will operate with cryogenically cooled mirrors. However, recent studies showed that cryogenic mirrors can suffer from molecular layer formation, which introduces an additional optical loss, and detector’s performance degrades. evaluate impact on detectors, we built a folded-cavity setup developed ellipsometric measurement method. The loss induced by shows large value even at few nanometer thickness deteriorate detectors.