title: Measurement of a low-absorption sample of OH-reduced fused silica.
abstract: Low-absorption optics made of OH-reduced fused silica are a key technology for future gravitational wave detectors such as the Advanced LIGO. We developed a sensitive method to measure the absorption inside the beam splitter of the GEO 600, taking advantage of the effect of thermal lensing. Using this method, we derived a bulk absorption of less than 0.25 ppm/cm for a piece of Suprasil 311 SV at a wavelength of 1064 nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the lowest value of light absorption inside fused silica reported so far in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Max-Plack-Institut fur Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut) and Universität Hannover, Germany. stefan.hild@aei.mpg.de
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hild
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lück
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Strain
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Grote
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malec
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hewitson
authors.forename: Benno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Willke
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hough
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Danzmann