Birney, R. et al. (2018) Amorphous silicon with extremely low absorption: beating thermal noise in gravitational astronomy. Physical Review Letters, 121, 191101. (doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.191101)
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Abstract
Amorphous silicon has ideal properties for many applications in fundamental research and industry. However, the optical absorption is often unacceptably high, particularly for gravitational-wave detection. We report a novel ion-beam deposition method for fabricating amorphous silicon with unprecedentedly low unpaired electron-spin density and optical absorption, the spin limit on absorption being surpassed for the first time. At low unpaired electron density, the absorption is no longer correlated with electron spins, but with the electronic mobility gap. Compared to standard ion-beam deposition, the absorption at 1550 nm is lower by a factor of ≈100. This breakthrough shows that amorphous silicon could be exploited as an extreme performance optical coating in near-infrared applications, and it represents an important proof of concept for future gravitational-wave detectors.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Also supported by STFC grants ST/N005406/1 and ST/M006913/1. |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Sproules, Dr Stephen and Bell, Dr Angus and Reid, Professor Stuart and Steinlechner, Dr Jessica and Tait, Dr Simon and Rowan, Professor Sheila and Martin, Dr Iain and Tornasi, Zeno and Hough, Professor James |
| Authors: | Birney, R., Steinlechner, J., Tornasi, Z., MacFoy, S., Vine, D., Bell, A.S., Gibson, D., Hough, J., Rowan, S., Sortais, P., Sproules, S., Tait, S., Martin, I.W., and Reid, S. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Research Centre: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy > Institute for Gravitational Research |
| Journal Name: | Physical Review Letters |
| Publisher: | American Physical Society |
| ISSN: | 0031-9007 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1079-7114 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2018 American Physical Society |
| First Published: | First published in Physical Review Letters 121:191101 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher |
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