Three Mode Interactions as a Precision Monitoring Tool for Advanced   Laser Interferometers
  Three-mode opto-acoustic interactions in advanced laser interferometer gravitational wave detectors have high sensitivity to thermally excited ultrasonic modes in their test masses. Three mode interaction signal gain can change by 100% for thermally induced radius of curvature variations ~ 10-5, allowing the monitoring of thermal distortions corresponding to wavefront changes ~2 x 10-13m. We show that the three-mode gain for single cavity interactions can be monitored by observing beat signals in the transmitted or reflected light due to the thermal excitation of the many hundreds of detectable acoustic modes. We show that three mode interaction signals can be used at low optical power to predict parametric instabilities that could occur at higher power. In addition, at any power, the observed mode amplitudes can be used to control the interferometer operating point against slow environmental perturbations. We summarize data on an 80m cavity that demonstrates these effects and propose testing on full scale interferometer cavities to evaluate whether the technique has practical benefits that can be extended from single cavities to dual recycling interferometers. 
L Ju, C Zhao, D G Blair, S Susmithan, Q Fang and C D Blair
physics.optics