2011/11/30 by T. Westphal, Tobias Westphal, Gerald Bergmann +51
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Frequency and Time Standards #Astronomical interferometer #Crossover #Detector #Geophysics and Sensor Technology #Gravitational wave #Gravitational-wave observatory #Interferometry #Michelson interferometer #Noise (video) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum optics #Sensitivity (control systems) #physics.ins-det #physics.optics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s00340-012-4878-z
arxiv created 2011/12/29 · openalex publication_date 2012/02/07 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · arxiv updated 2017/03/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The AEI 10 m prototype interferometer facility is currently being constructed at the Albert Einstein Institute in Hannover, Germany. It aims to perform experiments for future gravitational wave detectors using advanced techniques. Seismically isolated benches are planned to be interferometrically interconnected and stabilized, forming a low-noise testbed inside a 100 m3 ultra-high vacuum system. A well-stabilized high power laser will perform differential position readout of 100 g test masses in a 10 m suspended arm-cavity enhanced Michelson interferometer at the crossover of measurement (shot) noise and backaction (quantum radiation pressure) noise, the so-called Standard Quantum Limit (SQL). Such a sensitivity enables experiments in the highly topical field of macroscopic quantum mechanics. In this article we introduce the experimental facility and describe the methods employed, technical details of subsystems will be covered in future papers.