Related papers: The Advanced LIGO Input Optics
In the last decade, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the European Virgo observatory have opened a new observational window on the universe. These cavity-enhanced laser interferometers sense spacetime…
Gravitational waves from binary black hole and neutron star mergers are being regularly detected. As of 2021, ninety confident gravitational wave detections have been made by the LIGO and Virgo detectors. Work is ongoing to further increase…
The first detection of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in 2015 launched the era of gravitational wave astronomy. The quest for gravitational wave signals from objects that are fainter or…
The ``optical springs'' regime of the signal-recycled configuration of laser interferometric gravitational-wave detectors is analyzed taking in account optical losses in the interferometer arm cavities. This regime allows to obtain…
Advanced Virgo is the project to upgrade the Virgo interferometric detector of gravitational waves, with the aim of increasing the number of observable galaxies (and thus the detection rate) by three orders of magnitude. The project is now…
With the LIGO announcement of the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs), the GW Astronomy was formally ushered into our age. After one-hundred years of theoretical investigation and fifty years of experimental endeavor, this…
Small, highly absorbing points are randomly present on the surfaces of the main interferometer optics in Advanced LIGO. The resulting nano-meter scale thermo-elastic deformations and substrate lenses from these micron-scale absorbers…
We demonstrate the potential of new adaptive optical technology to expand the detection horizon of gravitational-wave observatories. Achieving greater quantum-noise-limited sensitivity to spacetime strain hinges on achieving higher…
Isolating ground-based interferometric gravitational wave observatories from environmental disturbances is one of the great challenges of the advanced detector era. In order to directly observe gravitational waves, the detector components…
Technical discussions of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) sensitivity often focus on its effective sensitivity to gravitational waves in a given band; nevertheless, the goal of the LIGO Project is to ``do…
In the coming years, the gravitational wave community will be optimizing detector performance for a variety of astrophysical sources that make competing demands on the detector sensitivity in different frequency bands. In this paper we…
Several km-scale gravitational-wave detectors have been constructed world wide. These instruments combine a number of advanced technologies to push the limits of precision length measurement. The core devices are laser interferometers of a…
GEO 600, Kagra, LIGO, and Virgo were built to observe gravitational waves at frequencies in the audio band, where the highest event rates combined with the largest signal to noise ratios had been predicted. Currently, hypothetical sources…
In 2009-2010, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observa- tory (LIGO) operated together with international partners Virgo and GEO600 as a network to search for gravitational waves of astrophysical origin. The sensitiv- ity of these…
Hardware injections are simulated gravitational-wave signals added to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The detectors' test masses are physically displaced by an actuator in order to simulate the effects of a…
Currently planned second-generation gravitational-wave laser interferometers such as Advanced LIGO exploit the extensively investigated signal-recycling (SR) technique. Candidate Advanced LIGO configurations are usually designed to have two…
LIGO --- The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory --- is one of several large projects being undertaken in the United States, Europe and Japan to detect gravitational radiation. The novelty and precision of these instruments…
Interferometric gravitational wave antennas are based on Michelson interferometers whose sensitivity to small differential length changes has been enhanced by adding multiple coupled optical resonators. The use of optical cavities is…
The ongoing global effort to detect gravitational waves continues to push the limits of precision measurement while aiming to provide a new tool for understanding both astrophysics and fundamental physics. Squeezed states of light offer a…
Thermal lensing in resonant optical interferometers such as those used for gravitational wave detection is a concern due to the negative impact on control signals and instrument sensitivity. In this paper we describe a method for monitoring…