Thermal noise measurement technique

B. J. J. Slagmolen, X. Brokmann, D. A. Shaddock, M. B.

Gray, and D. E. McClelland
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science,
The Australian National University, A.C.T., 0200, Australia.
E-mail: Bram.Slagmolen@anu.edu.au

Abstract. We report the measurement of the transfer function of a flexure suspension

system which is used in the ANU thermal noise experiment. This suspension hinges
over four thin machined flexure membranes ensuring uniaxial motion. We have
succesfully measured the transfer function of the suspension using a novel high dynamic
range measuring technique.

Submitted to: Class. Quantum Grav.

1. Introduction

Long baseline interferometer gravity wave (GW) detectors are predicted to be limited
by three fundamental noise sources[1]. In the low frequency range (up to 10 Hz) seismic
noise will be the dominant noise source. In the frequency range from 10 Hz to 500 Hz
the detector is limited by the thermal noise in the suspension and test masses. Above
this frequency range the detectors are limited by quantum noise. The standard way
of predicting the thermal noise is to measure the Q-factor of the relevant system. By
making assumptions about the type of loss, the fluctuation-dissipation theorem can be
used to estimate the thermal noise spectrum[2]. Usually structual loss of the system is
assumed.
Various groups around the world (VIRGO[3]/LIGO[4]/ACIGA[5]) have projects
for the direct measurement of thermal noise. Such a measurement will include all
displacement noise in the system, and will provide a complete characterisation of the
thermal noise behaviour.
The aim of the thermal noise experiment at the ANU is to create a facility for
thermal noise measurements. The first approach is to set up a simple system in which
thermal noise can be measured and to compare the results with theoretical predictions.
To this end we use a simple suspension system with a relatively high thermal noise level.
All other noise sources in the experiment must be suppressed below the thermal noise
level. The methods we developed to suppress laser frequency and intensity noise are
described in [6, 7] along with details of the readout system. Seismic noise is suppressed
Thermal noise measurement technique 2

Displacement Noise (log) (m/ˆHz)

(a) -10
(b)
-12

-14
incident
laser beam -16

-18

-20
180µm thick flexure
-22
0 1 2 3 4
Frequency (log) [Hz]

Figure 1. (a) Design of the flexure suspension with incident laser beam coming
from the right on to the flat mirror. The dark part hinges on the four 180 µm
thick flexures. (b) Predicted thermal noise spectrum of the flexure suspension with a
resonant frequency of 20 Hz.

by hanging the experiment from an isolator designed by researches at the University of

Western Australia[8]. Acoustic noise is avoided by housing the experiment in a vacuum
(∼ 10−6 mbar).
In these proceedings we focus on the mirror suspension system of which the thermal
noise is to be measured. We employ a thin flexure similar to those proposed for use
in a future GW detector[9]. The flexure suspension transfer function is measured for
verification of the designed parameters. The transfer function was recorded in air using
a novel high dynamic range measurement technique. We discuss the design of the
suspension and report a measurement of its transfer function to verify it predicted
behaviour.

2. Flexure suspension design

Our experiment is focused around the simple uniaxial flexure suspension, illustrated in
fig. 1(a). Thermal noise induces position fluctuations of the flexure suspension. To
measure these position fluctuations the suspension is incorporated in a Fabry-Perot
test cavity of which the resonance condition is monitored. Attached to the flexure
suspension is the back mirror of the test cavity. The uniaxial nature of the suspension
aids in maintaining mirror alignment thereby eliminating the need for an autoalignment
system.
With the avaliable laser power and readout system, a low resonant frequency
(f0 ∼ 20 Hz) is required to have enough frequency range before the thermal noise
runs into the test cavity shot noise, ∼3 kHz. The flexure suspension is made out of a
piece of Beryllium Copper which has a width w of 15 mm, and a Young modulus Ey of
131 × 109 Pa. The length l of the flexures are 1 mm, and have a suspension height h of
10 mm. With a suspended mass of ∼20 g, the flexure membrane thickness, d is related
Thermal noise measurement technique 3
Fixed mirror 2
(a)
(b) Sum
Split photodetector 1.5

fringe position
output
1
Σ /−
0.5
Flexure to test 0
Laser Subtracted
-0.5 output
Sum / difference -1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
split detector signal
flexure position [A.U.]

Figure 2. (a) The Michelson impulse response experiment layout. The mechanical
flexure resonator is excited by hitting it with a small object. The Michelson output
is detected on a two element split photo detector connected to a digital oscilloscope
to record the ringdown response. (b) The sum (in-phase) and difference (quadrature)
Michelson output signal response.

to the resonant frequency by

12π 2f02 mlh
d3 = (1)
Ey w
setting f0 ∼ 20 Hz results in a flexure thickness of 180 µm. Note that it is assumed
that all four flexures are identical and parallel so that the entire system behaves like a
single flexure of a resonant frequency of 20 Hz.

3. The impulse response

To verify the actual flexure suspension parameters with the proposed design, we obtained
the transfer function from the impulse response of the flexure suspension.
The measurement was performed using a Michelson interferometer with one of the
end mirrors being the flexure suspension, see fig. 2(a). A photo detector was placed
at the unused port of the beamsplitter. The flexure suspension was excited by hitting
it with a small object. To obtain the ringdown signal the intensity response can be
recorded from the output of the photo detector. Recording this response would allow
us to obtain the transfer function. The limiting factor in using the intensity response is
that the measurement can not track when the flexure displacement is more than half a
wavelength. This limits us to a short ringdown signal before it runs into the noise.
To overcome this we generated a zero crossing error signal for the arm length
difference of the interferometer and recorded this simultaneously with the intensity. This
error signal was 90 degrees out of phase with the intensity at photo detector as shown in
fig. 2(b). With this signal we tracked the suspension displacement over more than half
a wavelength. By taking the atan(error/intensity), where error and intensity are the
normalised error signal and interferometer output intensity respectively, the Michelson
phase difference was determined unambiguously. As a result there was no measurement
Thermal noise measurement technique 4

limitation on the range of displacement that could be recorded. This allowed large
impulse responses to be obtained.
We obtained the error signal using a variant of the tilt locking technique[10]. By
introducing a small tilt in both interferometer mirrors we generated a small component
of the Gaussian TEM01 beam profile at the output. The Michelson interferometer output
was detected with a two element split photo detector, which had a sum and a difference
output. The detector was aligned so each half of the TEM01 mode was detected on one
element of the photo detector. The sum output provided us with the intensity response
and the difference output provided us with the error signal.
With this approach the recording length of the ringdown of the signals was
increased, which increased the dynamic range of the measurement. The measurement
was now only limited by the sampling rate of the digital oscilloscope and the linear
displacement range of the mechanical flexure resonator.

3.1. Transfer function measurement

After setting up the Michelson inteferometer the flexure suspension was excited and the
added and the subtracted signals from the split photo detector were recorded on a digital
oscilloscope. Both signals were downloaded and stored for analysis. From the ringdown
signal we obtained the resonant frequency and the Q-factor of the mechanical resonator.
In fig. 3(a) the recovered ringdown signal is shown indicating a total displacement of
∼4.5 µm. A 30 kHz anti-aliasing filter was applied for both the sum and difference
signals before recording. Taking the Fast Fourier Transform of the ringdown generates
the transfer function, see fig. 3(b). As can be seen from the graph, the dynamic range
of this method is around 80 dB.
The transfer function had a Lorentzian profile. The measured response was curve
fitted with a theoretical profile from which the resonance frequency and the Q-factor
were extracted. The resonant frequency was found to be 185 Hz with a Q-factor of ∼800.
The experiment was performed in air which sets a theoretical limit on the resonator Q-
factor at approximately 900[1].
The measured resonant frequency of 185 Hz was an order of magnitude higher
than the design resonant frequency. After closer examination of the four flexures it
was apparent that the individual flexures were not exactly parallel to each other. This
resulted in a much stiffer flexure, and hence a higher resonant frequency.

4. Conclusion

We measured the transfer function of the uniaxial suspension system to compare system
properties with design values. The results where recorded using a novel measurement
technique, where both the Michelson response and error signal were obtained. This
allowed the flexure suspension position to be measured over many wavelengths with
interferometric precision. The ringdown response was obtained with 80 dB of dynamic
Thermal noise measurement technique 5
0
3 10
(a) (b)
2

transfer function [A.U.]

displacement [µm]
-2
1 10

0
-4
-1 10

-2
-6
-3 10
0 1 2 3 4 0 2 4
10 10 10
time [s] frequency [Hz]

Figure 3. (a) The experimentally recorded ringdown of the mechanical flexure

suspension showing the flexure displacement of ∼4.5µm. (b) The Fast Fourier
Transform of the ringdown response gives the transfer function. The dynamic range
of the measurement was around 80 db.

range thus allowing accurate determination of the transfer function. This technique is
generally applicable to other mechanical systems.
The measured resonant frequency of the flexure suspension was found to be
∼185 Hz, which was an order of magnitude above the design value due to non-parallelism
of the individual flexures.
An experiment is under development to measure the flexure suspension ringdown
response under a vacuum to determine whether the gas damping of the air interfered with
the current measurement results. With a good high dynamic range transfer function
measurement the thermal noise spectrum can be calculated direclty from the fluctuation-
dissipation theorem.

5. Acknowledgements

This research was performed under the auspices of the Australian Consortium
for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy, supported by the Australian Research
Council.

References

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Experiment”, 3rd Amaldi Conference Proceedings, (1999).
Thermal noise measurement technique 6

[6] B. J. J. Slagmolen, D. A. Shaddock, M. B. Gray and D. E. McClelland, “Frequency stability of

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