Signal Recycling and Resonant Sideband Extraction
Signal recycling
Signal recycling improves the sensitivity of an interferometer by adding a partially reflective mirror at the output port. This improves of the fringe-contrast of the whole interferometer and allows shaping the frequency response of the instrument – tuning it for certain gravitational-wave signals.
GEO600 researched different signal-recycling configurations in detail, which resulted in a considerable sensitivity improvement at high frequencies.
Resonant Sideband Extraction
An interferometer with resonant sideband extraction can be manipulated in such a way that its optical response to effects from gravitational waves can be optimized frequency dependent – independently of other parameters of the interferometer.
Relevant publications
Recycling in laser-interferometric gravitational-wave detectors
Phys. Rev. D 38, 2317 (1988)
Resonant sideband extraction: a new configuration for interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Physics Letters A 175 (5), pp. 273 - 276 (1993)
An experimental demonstration of resonant sideband extraction for laser-interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Physics Letters A 217 (6), pp. 305 - 314 (1996)