The new cryogenic facility at LMA

To support the research effort for the third generation of gravitational wave interferometers, the Laboratoire des Materiaux Avances (LMA) at Lyon, France has developed a new cryogenic facility to characterize optics at low temperature. The new cryostat is installed in a clean room and allows samples to be cooled down to 10 Kelvin in around 12 hours. Currently, two independent experiments have been installed in the cryostat: the measure of the optical absorption of silicon and the measurement of the coating mechanical loss. After a short presentation of the cryogenic and optical setup, preliminary results from the optical absorption experiment will be presented.