Experimental Demonstration of a Suspended Dual Recycling Interferometer for Gravitational Wave Detection

The advanced scheme of “signal recycling” is to be used in the British-German GEO 600 project, in addition to “power recycling” (which has become standard for all laser-interferometer gravitational wave detector projects). This combination, “dual recycling,” has been demonstrated for the first time on a fully suspended interferometer, the Garching prototype with 30 m arm length. Signal enhancement and power buildup were as predicted; operation was reliable, and a significant contrast enhancement was observed. A control system that can be extended to full scale gravitational wave detectors was employed