Measurement of Birefringence of Low-Loss, High-Reflectance Coating of M-Axis Sapphire

Camp, Jordan B. and Kells, William and Fejer, Martin M. and Gustafson, Eric (2001) Measurement of Birefringence of Low-Loss, High-Reflectance Coating of M-Axis Sapphire. Applied Optics, 40 (22). pp. 3753-3758. ISSN 0003-6935. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:CAMao01

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Abstract

The birefringence of a low-loss, high-reflectance coating applied to an 8-cm-diameter sapphire crystal grown in the m-axis direction has been mapped. By monitoring the transmission of a high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity as a function of the polarization of the input light, we find an upper limit for the magnitude of the birefringence of 2.5 x 10^-4 rad and an upper limit in the variation in direction of the birefringence of 10 deg. These values are sufficiently small to allow consideration of m-axis sapphire as a substrate material for the optics of the advanced detector at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2001 Optical Society of America Received 19 January 2001; revised manuscript received 10 April 2001. We thank A. Lazzarini for his useful comments on this manuscript and P. Willems for his help in executing the experiment. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under cooperative agreement PHY-9210038.
Issue or Number:	22
Record Number:	CaltechAUTHORS:CAMao01
Persistent URL:	https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:CAMao01
Alternative URL:	http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ao-40-22-3753
Usage Policy:	No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:	2923
Collection:	CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By:	Archive Administrator
Deposited On:	06 May 2006
Last Modified:	02 Oct 2019 22:58

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