Low-loss grating for coupling to a high-finesse cavity.

A concept for a low-loss all-reflective cavity coupler is experimentally demonstrated at a wavelength of 1064 nm. A 1450-nm period dielectric reflection grating with a diffraction efficiency of 0.58% in the - 1st order is used in the 2nd-order Littrow configuration as a coupler to form a cavity with a finesse of 400. The application of such reflective low-loss cavity couplers in future generations of gravitational-wave detectors and implementation issues are discussed.