Title
Enhanced Sensitivity of the LIGO Gravitational Wave Detector By Using Squeezed States of Light
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2013
Journal / Book Title
Nature Photonics
Abstract
Nearly a century after Einstein first predicted the existence of gravitational waves, a global network of Earth-based gravitational wave observatories1-4 is seeking to directly detect this faint radiation using precision laser interferometry. Photon shot noise, due to the quantum nature of light, imposes a fundamental limit on the attometre-level sensitivity of the kilometre-scale Michelson interferometers deployed for this task. Here, we inject squeezed states to improve the performance of one of the detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) beyond the quantum noise limit, most notably in the frequency region down to 150 Hz, critically important for several astrophysical sources, with no deterioration of performance observed at any frequency. With the injection of squeezed states, this LIGO detector demonstrated the best broadband sensitivity to gravitational waves ever achieved, with important implications for observing the gravitational-wave Universe with unprecedented sensitivity.
DOI
10.1038/nphoton.2013.177
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Aasi, J.; Abadie, J.; Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.; Abernathy, M. R.; Adams, C.; Favata, Marc; Ghosh, Shaon; and Martin, Rodica, "Enhanced Sensitivity of the LIGO Gravitational Wave Detector By Using Squeezed States of Light" (2013). Department of Physics and Astronomy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 47.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/physics-astron-facpubs/47
Published Citation
Aasi, J., Abadie, J., Abbott, B. P., Abbott, R., Abbott, T. D., Abernathy, M. R., ... & Dooley, K. L. (2013). Enhanced sensitivity of the LIGO gravitational wave detector by using squeezed states of light. Nature Photonics, 7(8), 613-619.