Investigation of mechanical dissipation in CO ₂ laser-drawn fused silica fibres and welds

The planned upgrades to the LIGO gravitational wave detectors include monolithic mirror suspensions to reduce thermal noise. The mirrors will be suspended using CO2 laser-drawn fused silica fibres. We present here measurements of mechanical dissipation in synthetic fused silica fibres drawn using a CO_2 laser. The level of dissipation in the surface layer is investigated and is found to be at a similar level to fibres produced using a gas flame. Also presented is a method for examining dissipation at welded interfaces, showing clear evidence of the existence of this loss mechanism which forms an additional component of the total detector thermal noise. Modelling of a typical detector suspension configuration shows that the thermal noise contribution from this loss source will be negligible.