Related papers: Control System Design for the LIGO Pre-stabilized …
The heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems serving the experimental halls of the Virgo gravitational wave interferometer generate low-frequency noise - namely below 100 Hz - of seismic, acoustic, and electromagnetic origin. Such…
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…
Using a quantum mechanical approach, we show that in a gravitational-wave interferometer composed of arm cavities and a signal recycling cavity, e.g., the LIGO-II configuration, the radiation-pressure force acting on the mirrors not only…
Precision measurements of space and time, like those made by the detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), are often confronted with fundamental limitations imposed by quantum mechanics. The Heisenberg…
The Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detectors are second generation instruments designed and built for the two LIGO observatories in Hanford, WA and Livingston, LA. The two instruments are identical in design, and are specialized versions…
Laser intensity noise suppression has essential effects on preparation and characterization of the audio-frequency squeezed vacuum state of light based on a sub-threshold optical parametric oscillator (OPO).We have implemented two feedback…
New generations of gravity wave detectors require unprecedented levels of vibration isolation. This paper presents the final design of the vibration isolation and positioning platform used in Advanced LIGO to support the interferometers…
To reach sub-picometer sensitivity in the millihertz range, displacement sensors based on laser interferometry require suppression of laser-frequency noise by several orders of magnitude. Many optical frequency stabilization methods exist…
Lasers with hertz-level linewidths on timescales up to seconds are critical for precision metrology, timekeeping, and manipulation of quantum systems. Such frequency stability typically relies on bulk-optic lasers and reference cavities,…
Seismic noise will be the dominant source of noise at low frequencies for ground based gravitational wave detectors, such as LIGO now under construction. Future interferometers installed at LIGO plan to use at least a double pendulum…
The range to which the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) can observe astrophysical systems varies over time, limited by noise in the instruments and their environments. Identifying and removing the sources of noise…
It has long been thought that the sensitivity of laser interferometric gravitational-wave detectors is limited by the free-mass standard quantum limit, unless radical redesigns of the interferometers or modifications of their input/output…
We report in detail the design process and performance of an auto-locking ultra-stable laser with sub-hertz linewidth at the first time. The laser frequency is automatically stabilized to an optical reference cavity with a home-made…
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…
Laser synchronization is a technique that locks the wavelength of a free-running laser to that of the reference laser, thereby enabling synchronous changes in the wavelengths of the two lasers. This technique is of crucial importance in…
Recently we have shown a system developed to precisely control the laser pulse timing of excimer lasers [1]. The electronic circuit based on an embedded microcontroller and utilized the natural jitter noise of the laser pulse generation to…
Laser phase noise remains a limiting factor in many experimental settings, including metrology, time-keeping, as well as quantum optics. Hitherto this issue was addressed at low frequencies, ranging from well below 1 Hz to maximally 100…
An extended cavity diode laser operating in the Littrow configuration emitting near 657 nm is stabilized via its injection current to a reference cavity with a finesse of more than 10^5 and a corresponding resonance linewidth of 14 kHz. The…
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 Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) aims to observe gravitational waves in the mHz regime over its 10-year mission time. LISA will operate laser interferometers between three spacecrafts. Each spacecraft will utilize independent…