Experimental Realization of Optimized Ternary Mirror Coatings

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Pierro, V., Granata, M., Michel, C., Pinard, L., Sassolas, B., Forest, D., Demos, N., Gras, S., Evans, M., Pinto, I. M., Avallone, G., Granata, V.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Pierro, V.
Granata, M.
Michel, C.
Pinard, L.
Sassolas, B.
Forest, D.
Demos, N.
Gras, S.
Evans, M.
Pinto, I. M.
Avallone, G.
Granata, V.
author_facet Pierro, V.
Granata, M.
Michel, C.
Pinard, L.
Sassolas, B.
Forest, D.
Demos, N.
Gras, S.
Evans, M.
Pinto, I. M.
Avallone, G.
Granata, V.
contents We report on the first experimental realization of multi-material dielectric mirror coatings designed through a multi-objective optimization algorithm to simultaneously minimize thermal noise and optical losses. We validate this design strategy by fabricating and characterizing two distinct ternary systems: a SiNx -based proof-of-concept and a Ti:GeO2 -based system targeting lower optical losses. The performance of the SiN x coating shows remarkable agreement with predictions, demonstrating a noise amplitude spectral density reduction of 0.82 with respect to current reference coatings, and validating our design-to-fabrication pipeline. The Ti:GeO2 -based system achieves the crucial goal of sub-ppm absorption; its measured thermal noise, however, is higher than the theoretically predicted level of 0.71, extrapolated from single-layer material characterization. A dedicated tolerance analysis confirms that this discrepancy is not attributable to random thickness errors, emphasizing that further studies of the manufacturing process are needed to fully exploit this combination of materials. This work establishes a robust methodology for producing complex, high-performance optical coatings tailored for precision experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_17886
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Experimental Realization of Optimized Ternary Mirror Coatings
Pierro, V.
Granata, M.
Michel, C.
Pinard, L.
Sassolas, B.
Forest, D.
Demos, N.
Gras, S.
Evans, M.
Pinto, I. M.
Avallone, G.
Granata, V.
Optics
Materials Science
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Applied Physics
We report on the first experimental realization of multi-material dielectric mirror coatings designed through a multi-objective optimization algorithm to simultaneously minimize thermal noise and optical losses. We validate this design strategy by fabricating and characterizing two distinct ternary systems: a SiNx -based proof-of-concept and a Ti:GeO2 -based system targeting lower optical losses. The performance of the SiN x coating shows remarkable agreement with predictions, demonstrating a noise amplitude spectral density reduction of 0.82 with respect to current reference coatings, and validating our design-to-fabrication pipeline. The Ti:GeO2 -based system achieves the crucial goal of sub-ppm absorption; its measured thermal noise, however, is higher than the theoretically predicted level of 0.71, extrapolated from single-layer material characterization. A dedicated tolerance analysis confirms that this discrepancy is not attributable to random thickness errors, emphasizing that further studies of the manufacturing process are needed to fully exploit this combination of materials. This work establishes a robust methodology for producing complex, high-performance optical coatings tailored for precision experiments.
title Experimental Realization of Optimized Ternary Mirror Coatings
topic Optics
Materials Science
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.17886