First Experimental Evaluation of Stray Light Noise Modeling of kilometers-long Beam Tube Arms of Gravitational Wave Detectors
Abstract
We present the results of the first experimental evaluation of stray light noise models for LIGO beam tube baffles. We combine the results of a testing campaign at LIGO Livingston and SIS simulations to get a model of backscatter and diffraction noise of select mid-arm baffles. Agreement to within a factor of 3−10 is found between models and measured gravitational waHe strain. Two distinct regions of well-propagating motion were identified, at approximately 35Hz and 90Hz, and these are visible in the strain signal as broadband features. Peaks with Q ≈ 100−1000 were also found in the strain signal between 70Hz and100Hz. These are theorized to come from diffraction noise only, and are modeled using Q-factors measured from the strain. These models are also in good agreement with the strain signal. Other findings on the effect of auxiliary arm systems on stray light noise are discussed.
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BibTeX
@misc{chick2026first,
title = {{First Experimental Evaluation of Stray Light Noise Modeling of kilometers-long Beam Tube Arms of Gravitational Wave Detectors}},
author = {Emilia Chick and Timothy O'Hanlon and Hiro Yamamoto and Denis Martynov. Valery Frolov and Anamaria Effler and Antonios Kontos},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.24743},
eprint = {2609.24743},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24743},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - First Experimental Evaluation of Stray Light Noise Modeling of kilometers-long Beam Tube Arms of Gravitational Wave Detectors
AU - Emilia Chick
AU - Timothy O'Hanlon
AU - Hiro Yamamoto
AU - Denis Martynov. Valery Frolov
AU - Anamaria Effler
AU - Antonios Kontos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.24743
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24743
AB - We present the results of the first experimental evaluation of stray light noise models for LIGO beam tube baffles. We combine the results of a testing campaign at LIGO Livingston and SIS simulations to get a model of backscatter and diffraction noise of select mid-arm baffles. Agreement to within a factor of 3−10 is found between models and measured gravitational waHe strain. Two distinct regions of well-propagating motion were identified, at approximately 35Hz and 90Hz, and these are visible in the strain signal as broadband features. Peaks with Q ≈ 100−1000 were also found in the strain signal between 70Hz and100Hz. These are theorized to come from diffraction noise only, and are modeled using Q-factors measured from the strain. These models are also in good agreement with the strain signal. Other findings on the effect of auxiliary arm systems on stray light noise are discussed.
ER -