Measurement of vibration of the top of the suspension in a cryogenic interferometer with operating cryocoolers

In the LCGT and CLIO projects for the interferometric gravitational wave detectors of Japan, the mirrors and a part of the suspension systems are cooled by cryocoolers to reduce the thermal noise. For the CLIO, extremely small vibration cryocoolers were specially developed by improving a commercial Gifford-McMahon type pulse tube cryocooler. We measured the vibration at the top of the suspension base in the CLIO interferometer while operating these cryocoolers. Although the seismic motion of 10−9(1 Hz/f)2 m/Hz½ at the site of the CLIO and LCGT in the Kamioka mine is 100-times smaller than that around Tokyo, these cryocoolers did not seriously increase the vibration. Consequently, a reduction of thermal noise by the cooled mirrors and suspension fibers using these cryocoolers is expected to be observed without any additional fluctuation disturbance due to the cryocoolers.