First cryogenic test operation of underground km-scale gravitational-wave observatory KAGRA

Abstract

KAGRA is a second-generation interferometric gravitational-wave detector with 3 km arms constructed at Kamioka, Gifu, Japan. It is now in its final installation phase, which we call bKAGRA (baseline KAGRA), with scientific observations expected to begin in late 2019. One of the advantages of KAGRA is its underground location of at least 200 m below the ground surface, which reduces seismic motion at low frequencies and increases the stability of the detector. Another advantage is that it cools down the sapphire test mass mirrors to cryogenic temperatures to reduce thermal noise. In April–May 2018, we operated a 3 km Michelson interferometer with a cryogenic test mass for 10 d, which was the first time that km-scale interferometer was operated at cryogenic temperatures. In this article, we report the results of this 'bKAGRA Phase 1' operation. We have demonstrated the feasibility of 3 km interferometer alignment and control with cryogenic mirrors.