{"paper":{"title":"Thermal Deformation Reduction in High-Power Interferometry with Higher-Order Laser Modes","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"Higher-order laser modes reduce the curvature correction needed for thermal deformation by up to 76 percent compared with the fundamental Gaussian mode.","cross_cats":["physics.optics"],"primary_cat":"astro-ph.IM","authors_text":"Liu Tao, Paul Fulda, Yuhang Zhao, Zong-Hong Zhu","submitted_at":"2026-05-11T09:01:48Z","abstract_excerpt":"Test-mass thermal noise is a limiting noise source for current and next-generation ground-based gravitational-wave observatories. Uniform-intensity higher-order laser beams, including Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) and Hermite-Gaussian (HG) modes, have been proposed as alternatives to the fundamental Gaussian beam due to their thermal-noise advantages. As interferometer power increases toward the megawatt regime, thermal aberrations from absorption in the test-mass coatings become increasingly significant. In this work, we quantify the robustness of higher-order modes against absorption-induced therma"},"claims":{"count":4,"items":[{"kind":"strongest_claim","text":"Under identical operating conditions, higher-order modes produce substantially more uniform thermal distortions than the fundamental mode, requiring significantly less thermal compensation power. The optimal curvature correction is reduced to 33% for the LG2,2 mode and 24% for the HG3,3 mode relative to the fundamental mode.","source":"verdict.strongest_claim","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C1","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"weakest_assumption","text":"The thermal deformation model assumes uniform coating absorption and perfect higher-order mode profiles without accounting for real-world imperfections such as coating inhomogeneities, mode mismatch, or dynamic thermal lensing feedback that could alter the actual intensity distribution.","source":"verdict.weakest_assumption","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C2","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"one_line_summary","text":"Higher-order modes reduce absorption-induced thermal deformation in high-power interferometers, cutting optimal curvature correction to 33% for LG2,2 and 24% for HG3,3 versus the fundamental mode while improving optical loss and modal purity.","source":"verdict.one_line_summary","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C3","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"headline","text":"Higher-order laser modes reduce the curvature correction needed for thermal deformation by up to 76 percent compared with the fundamental Gaussian mode.","source":"verdict.pith_extraction.headline","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C4","attestation":"unclaimed"}],"snapshot_sha256":"690900763ca634a44b72a6b12c16a30bea0d61ef4fb97b23cdbceee8af9d1e8c"},"source":{"id":"2605.10222","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":"a6b57531-d69a-4a73-b2d7-49a000aba432","model_set":{"reader":"grok-4.3"},"created_at":"2026-05-12T03:51:25.276366Z","strongest_claim":"Under identical operating conditions, higher-order modes produce substantially more uniform thermal distortions than the fundamental mode, requiring significantly less thermal compensation power. The optimal curvature correction is reduced to 33% for the LG2,2 mode and 24% for the HG3,3 mode relative to the fundamental mode.","one_line_summary":"Higher-order modes reduce absorption-induced thermal deformation in high-power interferometers, cutting optimal curvature correction to 33% for LG2,2 and 24% for HG3,3 versus the fundamental mode while improving optical loss and modal purity.","pipeline_version":"pith-pipeline@v0.9.0","weakest_assumption":"The thermal deformation model assumes uniform coating absorption and perfect higher-order mode profiles without accounting for real-world imperfections such as coating inhomogeneities, mode mismatch, or dynamic thermal lensing feedback that could alter the actual intensity distribution.","pith_extraction_headline":"Higher-order laser modes reduce the curvature correction needed for thermal deformation by up to 76 percent compared with the fundamental Gaussian mode."},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2605.10222/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[{"name":"claim_evidence","ran_at":"2026-05-20T06:22:00.900482Z","status":"completed","version":"1.0.0","findings_count":0},{"name":"ai_meta_artifact","ran_at":"2026-05-19T15:38:30.449171Z","status":"completed","version":"1.0.0","findings_count":0},{"name":"doi_title_agreement","ran_at":"2026-05-19T11:31:19.841571Z","status":"completed","version":"1.0.0","findings_count":0},{"name":"doi_compliance","ran_at":"2026-05-19T09:35:15.977452Z","status":"completed","version":"1.0.0","findings_count":0}],"snapshot_sha256":"eb7e63be03d4602f96789ad198f702662c0bc78a728ed61e9e2c38a32e8d02f0"},"references":{"count":49,"sample":[{"doi":"","year":null,"title":"Calculate and rescale the thermal distortion mirror maps for the surface and substrate fromFEniCSx according to the absorbed power at the specified circulating power","work_id":"cd385488-1ec3-4ac5-944c-89a4a1cef240","ref_index":1,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":null,"title":"Apply the mirror maps to both IM and EM in 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Curvature Actuation [ µD] 10−1 100 101 Single Bounce Scattering Loss [%] HG0,0 LG2,2 HG3,3 FIG. 7: Single-bounce scattering loss induced by t","work_id":"8d26c6a7-612e-43ea-944c-873ffb341034","ref_index":2,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":null,"title":"Determine the required input power to achieve the target arm power based on the optical gain","work_id":"f230614c-fcc3-4040-aa4b-d136c5239f1f","ref_index":3,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":null,"title":"Compute the corresponding modal impurity us- ing theamplitude detectorA n,m and thepower detectorP arm inFinesse. B. Single-bounce scattering loss To quantify the mode scattering effect of the ther- m","work_id":"ce5717b2-1bf7-4dee-8115-e69305aa264c","ref_index":4,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"10.1103/physrevd.111.062002","year":2025,"title":"2025, title Advanced LIGO detector performance in the fourth observing run, Phys","work_id":"a3eb96dc-b102-441c-847d-f0cc054e14c7","ref_index":5,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false}],"resolved_work":49,"snapshot_sha256":"e58c7a3e41924d922754c7006d57f2d89644459d200bce2341395c402bfd8baa","internal_anchors":1},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":2,"snapshot_sha256":"4edb86b9b6f4b072bc8db4e8c224205d5b8781c7491644892c2d78379905c502"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}