Gd. Van Albada et al., Measurement of mechanical vibrations excited in aluminum resonators by 0.6GeV electrons, REV SCI INS, 71(3), 2000, pp. 1345-1354
We present measurements of mechanical vibrations induced by 0.6 GeV electro
ns impinging on cylindrical and spherical aluminum resonators. To monitor t
he amplitude of the resonator's vibrational modes we used piezoelectric cer
amic sensors calibrated by standard accelerometers. Calculations using the
thermo-acoustic conversion model agree well with the experimental data, as
demonstrated by specific variations of the excitation strengths with the ab
sorbed energy, and with the traversing particles' track positions. For the
first longitudinal mode of the cylindrical resonator we measured a conversi
on factor of 7.4 +/- 1.4 nm/J, confirming the model value of 10 nm/J. Also,
for the spherical resonator, we found the model values for the L = 2 and L
= 1 mode amplitudes to be consistent with our measurement. We thus have co
nfirmed the applicability of the model, and we note that calculations based
on the model have shown that next generation resonant mass gravitational w
ave detectors can only be expected to reach their intended ultrahigh sensit
ivity if they are shielded by an appreciable amount of rock, where a veto d
etector can reduce the background of remaining impinging cosmic rays effect
ively. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(00)00803-0].