Speaker
Description
Upgrades to current and third generation ground-based Gravitational Wave Detectors (GWDs) will use Balanced Homodyne Detection (BHD) as a readout scheme with the interferometers locked at the dark fringe to suppress laser noise and improve their sensitivity. This will require an ultra-low phase noise local oscillator and the design of a more advanced locking scheme.
This presentation provides an overview of challenges and solutions proposed for the planned implementation of a BHD at the Albert Einstein Institute (AEI) 10m Prototype, a test facility for novel technologies in GWDs. This presentation will highlight recent experimental tests made to dither lock one of the arm cavities by exciting a test mass resonance with the electrostatic drive.