Design of a speed meter interferometer proof-of-principle experiment

TL;DR

This paper presents the design of the first Sagnac speed meter interferometer, aiming to demonstrate reduced quantum noise compared to Michelson configurations for future gravitational wave detectors.

Contribution

It introduces the world's first Sagnac speed meter interferometer design as a proof-of-principle experiment to mitigate quantum noise in gravitational wave detection.

Findings

Design of a Sagnac speed meter interferometer completed

Expected lower quantum noise compared to Michelson interferometers

Qualifies Sagnac speed meters for future gravitational wave detectors

Abstract

The second generation of large scale interferometric gravitational wave detectors will be limited by quantum noise over a wide frequency range in their detection band. Further sensitivity improvements for future upgrades or new detectors beyond the second generation motivate the development of measurement schemes to mitigate the impact of quantum noise in these instruments. Two strands of development are being pursued to reach this goal, focusing both on modifications of the well-established Michelson detector configuration and development of different detector topologies. In this paper, we present the design of the world's first Sagnac speed meter interferometer which is currently being constructed at the University of Glasgow. With this proof-of-principle experiment we aim to demonstrate the theoretically predicted lower quantum noise in a Sagnac interferometer compared to an equivalent Michelson interferometer, to qualify Sagnac speed meters for further research towards an implementation in a future generation large scale gravitational wave detector, such as the planned Einstein Telescope observatory.