A Thermal Enclosure Prototype For A Suspended Inertial Sensor

Although Ligo has detected six gravitational waves so far, people are still conducting research to improve the sensitivity of the detectors in different aspects. At low frequency band, one of the main sources of noise is seismic vibration. Lowering the noise level in this band, helps us to follow the coalescence of compact binary systems earlier in their transformation and increase the signal-to-noise ratio. It also allows us to detect merger of more massive objects. Hence, an isolation system is required to reduce the seismic noise. As a part of isolation system (which can be a passive or an active isolation), inertial sensors play an important role in monitoring the seismic vibration and disturbances. However, these sensors have a weakness. They cannot distinguish between translation motion and tilt motion at low frequency and the signal is dominated by tilt motion. One solution could be suspending the inertial sensor to attenuate the transmitted tilt to the sensor. Nevertheless, suspending the sensor makes it sensitive to any external excitation such as air current. I have designed and built a thermal enclosure for the suspended sensor to minimize the effect of the air current, and reduce the ambient temperature variations. The theoretical model of the enclosure, as well as the experimental measurements are presented in this study. The results show that the horizontal motion of the suspended sensor is decreased by several orders of magnitude after using the thermal enclosure.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S. in Physics

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics and Astronomy

Year dc:date.available

2017

Author dc:creator

• Afrough, Mohammad

Contributors dc:contributor

• Katherine Dooley
• Lucien M. Cremaldi
• Marco Cavaglia

• Active Isolation
• Gravitational Waves
• Inertial Sensors
• Ligo
• Thermal Ecnlosure
• Tilt-Free Seismometer
• Physics

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1112

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-2111