Spot size estimation of flat-top beams in space-based gravitational wave detectors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to estimate the spot size of flat-top beams in space-based gravitational wave detectors, aiding in optical system design and stray light control.

Contribution

A novel mode expansion method with a modified MSD definition for quick spot size estimation of arbitrary beams in space-based interferometry.

Findings

Validated the MSD-based spot size estimation against Gaussian profiles.

Simulated the MSD spot size for a top-hat beam in gravitational wave detection.

Analyzed diffraction effects and error impacts on spot size estimation.

Abstract

Motivated by the necessity of a high-quality stray light control in the detection of the gravitational waves in space, the spot size of a flat top beam generated by the clipping of the Gaussian beam (GB) is studied. By adopting the mode expansion method (MEM) approach to simulating the beam, a slight variant of the definition of the mean square deviation (MSD) spot size for the MEM beam is proposed. This enables us to quickly estimate the spot size for arbitrary propagation distances. Given that the degree of clipping is dependent on the power ratio within the surface of an optical element, the power ratio within the MSD spot range is used as a measure of spot size. The definition is then validated in the cases of simple astigmatic Gaussian beam and nearly-Gaussian beam profiles. As a representative example, the MSD spot size for a top-hat beam in a science interferometer in the detection of gravitational waves in space is then simulated. As in traditional MSD spot size analysis, the spot size is divergent when diffraction is taken into account. A careful error analysis is carried out on the divergence and in the present context, it is argued that this error will have little effect on our estimation. Using the results of our study allows an optimal design of optical systems with top-hat or other types of non-Gaussian beams. Furthermore, it allows testing the interferometry of space-based gravitational wave detectors for beam clipping in optical simulations. The present work will serve as a useful guide in the future system design of the optical bench and the sizes of the optical components.