Large and extremely low loss: the unique challenges of gravitational wave mirrors

Jérôme Degallaix (1) , Christophe Michel (1) , Benoît Sassolas (1) , Annalisa Allocca (2) , Gianpietro Cagnoli (3) , Laurent Balzarini (1) , Vincent Dolique (4) , Raffaele Flaminio (5) , Danièle Forest (1) , Massimo Granata (1) , Bernard Lagrange (1) , Nicolas Straniero (1) , Julien Teillon (1) , Laurent Pinard (1)

1 LMA - Laboratoire des matériaux avancés
2 INFN - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare [Pisa]
3 iLM - SOPRANO - iLM - Spectroscopies optiques des matériaux verres, amorphes et à nanoparticules
4 Phys-ENS - Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS Lyon
5 LAPP - Laboratoire d'Annecy de Physique des Particules

This paper describes the making of large mirrors for laser interferometer gravitational wave detectors. These optics, working in the near infrared, are among the best optics ever created and played a crucial role in the first direct detection of gravitational waves from black holes or neutron star fusions.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Chimie; Physique [physics]

Jérôme Degallaix, Christophe Michel, Benoît Sassolas, Annalisa Allocca, Gianpietro Cagnoli, et al.. Large and extremely low loss: the unique challenges of gravitational wave mirrors. Journal of the Optical Society of America. A Optics, Image Science, and Vision, 2019, 36 (11), pp.C85. ⟨10.1364/JOSAA.36.000C85⟩. ⟨hal-02417232⟩