Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
High power laser development at 1064 nm
Current and future gravitational-wave detectors need narrow linewidth, high power laser sources with low noise and high beam quality to reach a high detector sensitivity at high frequencies.
Schematic of the laser system used in aLIGO's 3rd observing run.
Schematic of the laser system used in aLIGO's 3rd observing run.
The pre-stabilized laser systems for GEO600, Enhanced LIGO and Advanced LIGO [ref. 1-3] were developed and tested in our group and a reference system at the AEI allows us to implement and test new laser systems in a gravitational-wave detector pre-stabilization environment.
It is most likely that future gravitational-wave detectors will require an even higher laser power than what is needed now. We are investigating new laser power amplification modules as well as the coherent combination of multiple high power laser beams [4-6]. All systems are based on 2 Watt NPRO lasers as low noise, narrow linewidth seed lasers with high beam quality.
The produced high power laser beams are power and frequency stabilized as well as characterized with the diagnostic breadboard [ref. 4], a beam characterization instrument developed in our group. Hence, we are able to verify in detail if our laser systems qualify for next generation gravitational-wave detectors.
Publications
1.
Frede, M.; Schulz, B.; Wilhelm, R.; Kwee, P.; Seifert, F.; Willke, B.; Kracht, D.: Fundamental mode, single-frequency laser amplifier for gravitational wave detectors. Optics Express 15 (2), pp. 459 - 465 (2007)
