Thermal noise and mechanical loss of SiO₂/Ta₂O₅ optical coatings at cryogenic temperatures

Mechanical loss of dielectric mirror coatings sets fundamental limits for both gravitational wave detectors and cavity-stabilized optical local oscillators for atomic clocks. Two approaches are used to determine the mechanical loss: ringdown measurements of the coating quality factor and direct measurement of the coating thermal noise. Here we report a systematic study of the mirror thermal noise at 4, 16, 124, and 300 K by operating reference cavities at these temperatures. The directly measured thermal noise is used to extract the mechanical loss for S i O 2 / T a 2 O 5 coatings, which are compared with previously reported values.