title: Realization of a monolithic high-reflectivity cavity mirror from a single silicon crystal.
abstract: We report on the first experimental realization of a high-reflectivity cavity mirror that solely consists of a single silicon crystal. Since no material was added to the crystal, the urgent problem of "coating thermal noise" that currently limits classical as well as quantum measurements is avoided. Our mirror is based on a surface nanostructure that creates a resonant surface waveguide. In full agreement with a rigorous model we realized a reflectivity of (99.79+/-0.01)% at a wavelength of 1.55 microm, and achieved a cavity finesse of 2784. We anticipate that our achievement will open the avenue to next generation high-precision experiments targeting fundamental questions of physics.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Angewandte Physik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brückner
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Friedrich
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Clausnitzer
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Britzger
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Burmeister
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Danzmann
authors.forename: Ernst-Bernhard
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Kley
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tünnermann
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schnabel