Modelling interferometers: the Finesse simulation tool

In this talk I will give an overview of the Finesse3 simulation tool.

Finesse is an important and widely applied tool in the commissioning and designing of gravitational wave interferometers such as Virgo, LIGO and the future Einstein Telescope. In order to appreciate its design I will start with a brief introduction of the difficulties of detecting GWs due to their minute length scales and pointing out several ways the detectors work around these limitations. Having thus established the need for advanced simulation software I will move to the available software suits, in particular Finesse. After discussing its basic simulation principles it will become clear for which classes of problems it is optimally suited. I will continue with an overview of the main features with some simple and more advanced examples. I will conclude with some remarks on Finesse as an open source project.