E J Daw et al 2004 Class. Quantum Grav. 21 2255 doi:10.1088/0264-9381/21/9/003
E J Daw1,2, J A Giaime1, D Lormand4, M Lubinski3 and J Zweizig5
Show affiliationsThe LIGO experiment aims to detect and study gravitational waves using ground-based laser interferometry. A critical factor to the performance of the interferometers, and a major consideration in the design of possible future upgrades, is isolation of the interferometer optics from seismic noise. We present the results of a detailed programme of measurements of the seismic environment surrounding the LIGO interferometers. We describe the experimental configuration used to collect the data, which were acquired over a 613 day period. The measurements focused on the frequency range 0.1–10 Hz, in which the secondary microseismic peak and noise due to human activity in the vicinity of the detectors was found to be particularly critical to the interferometer performance. We compare the statistical distribution of the data sets from the two interferometer sites, construct amplitude spectral densities of seismic noise amplitude fluctuations with periods of up to 3 months and analyse the data for any long-term trends in the amplitude of seismic noise in this critical frequency range.
Instrumentation and measurement
Issue 9 (7 May 2004)
Received 19 December 2003
Published 2 April 2004
E J Daw et al 2004 Class. Quantum Grav. 21 2255
Eddy Ardonne et al 2005 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 38 617
Marcel W Pruessner et al 2006 J. Micromech. Microeng. 16 832
S Bize et al 2005 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 38 S449
M Itoh et al 1981 J. Phys. F: Met. Phys. 11 1605
V Damodara Das and K Seetharama Bhat 1989 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 22 162
P J Allisy-Roberts 2005 J. Radiol. Prot. 25 97
H L Thayer et al 2003 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 29 2247
Seiji Kawamura et al 2006 Class. Quantum Grav. 23 S125
A Eichenberger et al 2003 Metrologia 40 356