Small-Sized Interferometer with Fabry–Perot Resonators for Gravitational Wave Detection

Abstract

It is highly desirable to have a compact laser interferometer for detecting gravitational waves. Here, a small-sized tabletop laser interferometer with Fabry–Perot resonators consisting of two spatially distributed “mirrors” for detecting gravitational waves is proposed. It is shown that the spectral resolution of 10−23 cm−1 can be achieved at a distance between mirrors of only 1–3 m. The influence of light absorption in crystals on the limiting resolution of such resonators is also studied. A higher sensitivity of the interferometer to shorter-wave laser radiation is shown. A method for detecting gravitational waves is proposed based on the measurement of the correlation function of the radiation intensities of non-zero-order resonant modes from the two arms of the Mach–Zehnder interferometer.