Thermal noise and mechanical loss of SiO2/Ta2O5 optical coatings at cryogenic temperatures
Open accessAbstract
Mechanical loss of dielectric mirror coatings sets fundamental limits for both gravitational wave detectors and cavity-stabilized optical local oscillators for atomic clocks. Two approaches are used to determine the mechanical loss: ringdown measurements of the coating quality factor and direct measurement of the coating thermal noise. Here we report a systematic study of the mirror thermal noise at 4, 16, 124, and 300 K by operating reference cavities at these temperatures. The directly measured thermal noise is used to extract the mechanical loss for S i O 2 / T a 2 O 5 coatings, which are compared with previously reported values.
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Silicon dioxide (SiO2) is the most commonly used material to fabricate dielectric mirrors.
“The most commonly used material to fabricate dielectric mirrors is silicon dioxide (SiO2).”
From Metal Oxide Thin Films for Advanced Photonic Applications (2026) · cites this paper as [30]
The introduction (p. 1) says SiO2 and Ta2O5 are the most common choices for the low- and high-refractive-index layers of highly reflective optical coatings, respectively. This supports SiO2 as a common mirror-coating material, but not the claim that it alone is the most commonly used material for dielectric mirrors. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe SiO2/TiO2 pair offers the largest optical contrast, making it suitable for high-reflectance dielectric mirrors with a smaller number of pairs and sharper stopbands.
“However, the pair SiO2/TiO2 offers the largest optical contrast, rendering it perfect for high-reflectance dielectric mirrors with a smaller number of pairs and sharper stopbands.”
From Metal Oxide Thin Films for Advanced Photonic Applications (2026) · cites this paper as [30]
The introduction (p. 1) says highly reflective coatings stack materials with high and low refractive indices, but identifies SiO2/Ta2O5—not SiO2/TiO2—as the common pair. Searches for SiO2/TiO2, optical contrast, pair count, and stopbands found no passage assessing the claimed advantages of SiO2/TiO2. (LLM, conf=0.77)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Robinson, J. M., Oelker, E., Milner, W. R., Kedar, D., Zhang, W., Legero, T., Matei, D. G., Häfner, S., Riehle, F., Sterr, U., & Ye, J.
- Affiliations
- Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (US)
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (DE)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Optics Letters
- Publisher
- Optica Publishing Group
- Published
- 2021-01-25
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 592
- ISSN
- 0146-9592 (ISSN-L)
- 1539-4794
- OpenAlex
- W3101593409
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 0.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Optics Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (QLCI 2016244)
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- PTB
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (EXC-2123 Quantum Frontiers)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Mechanical and Optical Resonators
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Surfaces, Coatings and Films › Optical Coatings and Gratings
- Keywords
- thermal noise, mechanical losses, dielectric mirror coatings, cryogenic temperatures, quality factor, ringdown, reference cavity, gravitational wave detectors, optical local oscillator, atomic clocks
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