Cryogenic system for the interferometric cryogenic gravitational wave telescope, KAGRA - Design, fabrication, and performance test

Abstract

KAGRA is the cryogenic interferometric gravitational wave telescope designed for the direct detection of gravitational waves from the astronomical sources. To achieve the best sensitivity, one of the most difficult challenges is cooling the mirrors to 20K to reduce the thermal noise. We developed four cryostats and sixteen very-low-vibration cryocooler units to accomplish our purpose. In this paper, we describe the outline of the cryogenic design and fabrication, and the results of the cryogenic performance test of the cryostats and cryocooler units.