Speaker
Description
As the designs of next generation GW facilities like ET and CE progress, we will need to specify requirements for each optical element. These should build on the success of current optics, while incorporating the experiences of 2G (e.g. point absorbers) and accounting for new behaviours we know to anticipate from new material choices. One challenge is how to actually write these requirements down, and confidently test that they are sufficient before investing in full-scale substrates, coating runs, etc.
We have developed a framework for creating ‘virtual’ mirror maps for 3G detectors that can emulate existing GWD mirror properties, tailored to mimic known manufacturing features and/or represent different types of mirror surface specification. In the process, we have taken an in-depth look about what information is critical for assessing mirror performance, and what information various modeling approaches are able to provide. In this talk, I’ll provide a brief tour of our findings so far, and what this implies for both optical design and likely performance of future GW detectors.