An experiment to distinguish between diffusive and specular surfaces for thermal radiation in cryogenic gravitational-wave detectors

In cryogenic gravitational-wave detectors, one of the most important issues is the fast cooling of their mirrors and keeping them cool during operation to reduce thermal noise. For this purpose, the correct estimation of thermal-radiation heat transfer through the pipe-shaped radiation shield is vital to reduce the heat load on the mirrors. However, the amount of radiation heat transfer strongly depends on whether the surfaces reflect radiation rays diffusely or specularly. Here, we propose an original experiment to distinguish between diffusive and specular surfaces. This experiment has clearly shown that the examined diamond-like carbon-coated surface is specular. This result emphasizes the importance of suppressing the specular reflection of radiation in the pipe-shaped shield.