This award will provide funds for a collaborative effort at Caltech and MIT to improve the sensitivity of detectors to be used at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Funds are provided for R&D for a period of one year that is expected to be the beginning of a long term program to reduce the noise that could mimic a gravitational-wave signal from LIGO. The long term program will be in collaboration with scientists at several other institutions. The collaborations are currently in the process of being formed. During the one year period of this award, the following activities will take place: implementation of lasers with 1064 nm wavelength at the Caltech 40 Meter Interferometer, preparation for double- pendulum suspensions at the MIT Interferometer, thermal noise research at Caltech; and resonant sideband extraction research at Caltech and MIT.
