Improving active seismic isolation in aLIGO using a ground rotation sensor

The active seismic isolation in Advanced LIGO achieves a factor of $10-10^4$ isolation from ground displacement in the frequency range from 0.1-10 Hz enabling stable low noise interferometer operation. It uses seismometers on the ground and the optics platform in feedback loops to reduce the transmission of ground motion to the platform. However, due to the inability of a seismometer to distinguish between horizontal acceleration and rotation (coupling through gravity), wind-induced tilt limits the performance of the active isolation in the 10-500 mHz frequency range, thereby reducing the duty-cycle of the detectors. We describe a ground rotation sensor, consisting of a low frequency beam-balance and an autocollimator readout with better than 0.4 nrad/rt(Hz) sensitivity above 10 mHz, which can be used to subtract tilt-noise from a horizontal seismometer, thus improving the active seismic isolation system.