This award supports the development of instrumentation for future gravitational wave detectors and it addresses the priority areas of NSF's "Windows on the Universe" Big Idea. The goal of this project is to make a big leap in gravitational-wave (GW) and measurement science. Gravitational-waves are the newest way to make observations about the universe. They provide the best information about the extremely warped space and time around black holes, exotic neutron stars, and, within the next decade, a unique probe of the expansion of the universe over the last several billion years. Gravitational-waves can be thought of as the audio soundtrack to the movie of the cosmos that humanity has been watching for many years with our telescopes. To measure gravitational-waves, scientists have developed the most sensitive vibration measurement technology in history. The work proposed here aims to push beyond the usual measurement limits of quantum physics and molecular vibrations and produce a novel way of making even more sensitive measurements. In addition to the improvement in astrophysical sensitivity, such measurement science breakthroughs can be used to dramatically improve sensors in hand-held devices and consumer products.
Gravitational-wave detectors provide the best information about the extremely warped spacetime around black holes, exotic nuclear matter in neutron stars, and, within the next decade, a unique probe of cosmology at high redshifts. The current LIGO detectors will approach the thermodynamic and quantum mechanical limits of their designs within a few years. This project will develop high precision techniques to extend the astrophysical reach by a factor of 5. To do so, Brownian thermal noise will be suppressed by a novel combination of cryogenics and materials science. Quantum backaction and squeezed light will be exploited to surpass the usual quantum limits of interferometry. Such a dramatic change in the sensitivity should increase the detection rate of binary neutron star mergers to ~10/day and the rate of binary black hole mergers to ~30/day. This upgraded instrument would be able to detect binary black holes out to a redshift of 8.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
