Feasibility of a magnetic suspension for second generation Gravitational Wave interferometers

Monica Varvella , Enrico Calloni , Luciano Di Fiore , Leopoldo Milano , Nicolas Arnaud (1)

1 LAL - Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire

This paper deals with the use of a magnetic levitation system as a part of a multi-stage seismic attenuator for gravitational wave interferometric antennas. The proposed configuration uses permanent magnets in attraction to balance the suspended weight, plus a closed loop position control to obtain a stable levitation. The system is analyzed using a MATLAB simulation code to compute the forces exerted by extended magnets. The validity of this model has been tested by a comparison with the experimental data from a levitated suspension prototype.

Mots clés: Gravitational waves; Magnetic levitation; Suspended interferometer; Virgo superattenuator; Control systems

Domaines: Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]; Astrophysique [astro-ph]; Relativité Générale et Cosmologie Quantique [gr-qc]; Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]

Monica Varvella, Enrico Calloni, Luciano Di Fiore, Leopoldo Milano, Nicolas Arnaud. Feasibility of a magnetic suspension for second generation Gravitational Wave interferometers. Astroparticle Physics, 2004, 21, pp.325-335. ⟨10.1016/j.astropartphys.2004.01.002⟩. ⟨hal-00019712⟩