High Power Lasers and Novel Optics for Laser Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors

Research at Adelaide is directed towards the development of critical optical components for second generation long baseline gravitational wave interferometers. In particular, the development of high power, low noise lasers, and an investigation to determine the potential of holographic, diffractive and nonlinear optical components for solving some of the problems which could limit the sensitivity of second generation detectors. In this paper we will outline the proposed research and present some early results.