All-reflective coupling of two optical cavities with 3-port diffraction gratings

作者：Burmeister Oliver^*; Britzger Michael; Thuering Andre; Friedrich Daniel; Brueckner Frank; Danzmann Karsten; Schnabel Roman

来源：Optics Express, 2010, 18(9): 9119-9132.

DOI：10.1364/OE.18.009119

The shot-noise limited sensitivity of Michelson-type laser interferometers with Fabry-Perot arm cavities can be increased by the so-called power-recycling technique. In such a scheme the power-recycling cavity is optically coupled with the interferometer's arm cavities. A problem arises because the central coupling mirror transmits a rather high laser power and may show thermal lensing, thermo-refractive noise and photo-thermo-refractive noise. Cryogenic cooling of this mirror is also challenging, and thus thermal noise becomes a general problem. Here, we theoretically investigate an all-reflective coupling scheme of two optical cavities based on a 3-port diffraction grating. We show that power-recycling of a high-finesse arm cavity is possible without transmitting any laser power through a substrate material. The power splitting ratio of the three output ports of the grating is, surprisingly, noncritical.

• 出版日期2010-4-26