Parametric instabilities and their control in advanced interferometer gravitational-wave detectors

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Apr 1;94(12):121102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.121102. Epub 2005 Apr 1.

Abstract

A detailed simulation of Advanced LIGO test mass optical cavities shows that parametric instabilities will excite 7 acoustic modes in each fused silica test mass, with parametric gain R up to 7 and only 1 acoustic mode with R approximately 2 for alternative sapphire test masses. Fine-tuning of the test mass radii of curvature causes the instabilities to sweep through various modes with R as high as approximately 2000. Sapphire test mass cavities can be tuned to completely eliminate instabilities using thermal g-factor tuning. In the case of fused silica test mass, instabilities can be minimized but not eliminated.