Modeling and structure analysis of amorphous and doped Ta2O5 for low mechanical loss coatings
Jun Jiang1 , Kiran Prasai2 , Alec S. Mishkin1 , Maher Yazback1 , Riccardo Bassiri2 , Martin M. Fejer2 and Haiping Cheng1
1. Department of Physics and Quantum Theory Project, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
2. E. L. Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305, USA
3. Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA
Abstract
In order to improve the accuracy of the new generation of laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory (LIGO) after the first detection of gravitational wave [1], upgrade of the optical system is going on. Lowering the mechanical loss of the mirror coating become one of the keys to further increase the accuracy of the detector. Recent experimental results show that elevated substrate temperature deposition, annealing process and doping can improve the loss of amorphous Ta2O5 coatings [2].
In this work, we model the amorphous Ta2O5 and doped amorphous Ta2O5based on the experimental information. By applying both classic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and first principle calculation, we analyze the structures (radial distribution, angle distribution, voids detection) and energies of different models to give insight of features resulting low mechanical loss in amorphous coatings.
References
[1] Abbott, B., et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 (6), 061102 (2016)
[2] Vajente, G., et al. Classical and Quantum Gravity 35.7 (2018): 075001.