GW: CALVA

CALVA

The in-air optical bench used to prepare laser beams which will enter the vacuum chamber (red container in the back) where squeezing is produced and characterized.

CALVA is a test facility which aims at studying possible new configurations around frequency-dependent squeezing in vacuum in order to improve gravitational-wave detectors, like Virgo or Einstein Telescope. The work done on the CALVA test facility is recognized by the Virgo collaboration. In the last years, it has hosted the ANR-funded project Exsqueez & QFilter. The main focus is to study a new geometry of the Optical Parametric Oscillator (source of squeezed light) and the quality of the vacuum, and in particular, the impact in terms of obtainable squeezing magnitude. The aim is to demonstrate their effectiveness in order to implement them in the next upgrade of Virgo, and/or be part of the design of Einstein telescope.

Simplified scheme of the current experimental setup implemented at the CALVA test facility.
Interior of the vaccum tank with the Optical Parametric Oscillator (source of squeezed light) visible on the front of the picture.