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MOLECULAR DYNAMICS STUDY OF OPTICAL COATING OF TIO2-ZRO2-DOPED GEO2 FOR GRAVITATIONAL DETECTORS

Abstract

A decade after the Nobel Prize–winning discovery of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger, the Advanced LIGO detectors—now in their fourth observing run (O4)—routinely detect black hole mergers, roughly one every three days, with a total of about 300 events to date. The next generation of observatories will greatly expand the observable universe, potentially enabling the detection of signals from the early cosmos. Achieving the design sensitivity of these future detectors, alongside advances in several other technologies, requires significant improvement in mirror coatings. In this talk, I will present a computational study of a candidate mirror-coating material: amorphous GeO₂–TiO₂–ZrO₂ (GTZO). Using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) and machine-learning interatomic potentials (MLIP), we investigate the atomic structure of amorphous GTZO. Structural modifications induced by increasing concentrations of ZrO₂ will be analyzed to understand whether and how ZrO₂ suppresses crystallization in TiO₂-doped GeO₂ coatings during post-deposition annealing. Overall, this study shows how adding ZrO₂ changes the structure of GTZO coatings and may help stop crystallization during heating. These results can guide the development of better mirror coatings for future gravitational-wave detectors, helping us see weaker and more distant signals from the universe.

Acknowledgements

Office of Undergraduate Research, Kennesaw State University

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