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Ice impact on thermal noise in cryogenic gravitational-wave detectors

Guido Alex Iandolo1,2,*, Alex Amato1,2, Henk Jan Bulten2, Stefan Hild1,2, Pascal Huysmans1, Paul Laeven1, Luca Massaro1,2, Peter G. Murray3, Simon C. Tait3,4 et al.

Janis Wöhler1,2, Iain W. Martin3, and Jessica Steinlechner1,2,3,†

  • *Contact author: g.iandolo@maastrichtuniversity.nl
  • †Contact author: jessica.steinlechner@ligo.org
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 062002 – Published 4 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/k28k-5yn3

Abstract

Future gravitational-wave detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope and Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) Voyager, are planned to implement cryogenic technology. For the Kamioka gravitational wave detector, where cryogenics has already been adopted, issues related to the growth of an ice layer on mirror surfaces were reported. Further studies have confirmed the presence of nanometric layers in cryogenic experiments in which ice led to an increase in optical loss and to oscillations of the mirror reflectance. In this study, we investigate the mechanical loss of an ice layer grown on a silicon substrate. The results show that the total mechanical loss increases over time with the thickness of the ice layer, indicating that even a few nanometers of ice can impact the sensitivity of gravitational-wave detectors.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 062002– Published 4 September, 2026
  • Received 10 October 2025
  • Accepted 13 July 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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