Abstract. Thermal effects are already important in currently operating interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Planned upgrades of these detectors involve increasing optical power to combat quantum shot noise. We consider the ramifications of this increased power for one particular class of laser beams—wide, flat-topped, mesa beams. In particular we model a single mesa beam Fabry–Perot cavity having thermoelastically deformed mirrors. We calculate the intensity profile of the fundamental cavity eigenmode in the presence of thermal perturbations, and the associated changes in thermal noise. We also outline an idealized method of correcting for such effects. At each stage we contrast our results with those of a comparable Gaussian beam cavity. Although we focus on mesa beams the techniques described are applicable to any azimuthally symmetric system.

PACS numbers: 04.80.Nn, 95.55.Ym, 07.60.Ly, 42.60.Lh

Print publication: Issue 23 (7 December 2008)
Received 26 July 2008, in final form 1 October 2008
Published 17 November 2008