Enhanced sensitivity of the LIGO gravitational wave detector by using squeezed states of light

Enhanced sensitivity of the LIGO gravitational wave detector by using squeezed states of light. Aasi, J., Abadie, J., Abbott, B. P., Abbott, R., Abernathy, M. R., Adhikari, R. X., Ajith, P., Anderson, S. B., Arai, K., Araya, M. C., Austin, L., Barayoga, J. C., Billingsley, G., Black, E., Blackburn, J. K., Bork, R., Brooks, A. F., Buckland, K., Cepeda, C., Chalermsongsak, T., Coyne, D. C., Daudert, B., Dergachev, V., Doravari, S., Driggers, J. C., Ehrens, P., Engel, R., Etzel, T., Fotopoulos, N., Gustafson, E. K., Harms, J., Heefner, J., Heptonstall, A. W., Hodge, K. A., Ivanov, A., Jacobson, M., James, E., Kalmus, P., Kells, W., King, P. J., Kondrashov, V., Korth, W. Z., Kozak, D., Lazzarini, A., Litvine, V., Mageswaran, M., Mailand, K., Maros, E., Martinov, D., Marx, J. N., McIntyre, G., Meshkov, S., Nash, T., Ogin, G. H., Osthelder, C., Pedraza, M., Phelps, M., Poux, C., Price, L. R., Privitera, S., Quintero, E., Reitze, D. H., Robertson, N. A., Rollins, J. G., Sannibale, V., Santamaría, L., Seifert, F., Shao, Z., Singer, A., Smith, M. R., Smith-Lefebvre, N. D., Taylor, R., Thrane, E., Torrie, C. I., Vass, S., Wallace, L., Weinstein, A. J., Whitcomb, S. E., Willems, P. A., Williams, R., Williams, T., Yamamoto, H., Yeaton-Massey, D., Zhang, L., Zweizig, J., Y, C., Gossan, S., Hong, T., Miao, H., Ott, C. D., Thorne, K. S., Vallisneri, M., Yang, H., & Drever, R. W. P. Nature Photonics, 7(8):613--619, Nature Publishing Group, August, 2013. o̧pyright 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited Received: 23 April 2013. Accepted: 04 June 2013. Published online: 21 July 2013. The authors acknowledge support from the United States National Science Foundation for the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Max-Planck-Society and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for supporting the construction and operation of the GEO600 detector. The authors also acknowledge support for the research, by these agencies and by the Australian Research Council, the International Science Linkages programme of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of Italy, the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, the Conselleria d'Economia, Hisenda i Innovació of the Govern de les Illes Balears, the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Research Foundation of Korea, Industry Canada and the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the National Science and Engineering Research Council Canada, the Carnegie Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Research Corporation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Author Contributions: The activities of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) include modelling astrophysical sources of gravitational waves, setting sensitivity requirements for observatories, designing, building and running observatories, carrying out research and development of new techniques to increase the sensitivity of these observatories, and performing searches for astrophysical signals contained in the data. S. Dwyer, S. Chua, L. Barsotti and D. Sigg were the leading scientists on this experiment, but a number of LSC members contributed directly to its success. M. Stefszky, A. Khalaidovski, M. Factourovich and C. Mow-Lowry assisted with the development of the squeezed vacuum source under the leadership of N. Mavalvala, D. McClelland and R. Schnabel. K. Kawabe supervised the integration of the squeezed vacuum source into the LIGO interferometer, with invaluable support from M. Landry and the LIGO Hanford Observatory staff. N. Smith-Lefebvre, M. Evans, R. Schofield and C. Vorvick kept the LIGO interferometer at its peak sensitivity and supported the integration of the squeezed vacuum source, with contributions from G. Meadors and D. Gustafson. The initial manuscript was written by L. Barsotti, N. Mavalvala, D. Sigg and D. McClelland. The LSC review of the manuscript was organized by S. Whitcomb. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Paper abstract bibtex

Nearly a century after Einstein first predicted the existence of gravitational waves, a global network of Earth-based gravitational wave observatories 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.

@article{caltechauthors43508,
          volume = {7},
          number = {8},
           month = {August},
          author = {J. Aasi and J. Abadie and B. P. Abbott and R. Abbott and M. R. Abernathy and R. X. Adhikari and P. Ajith and S. B. Anderson and K. Arai and M. C. Araya and L. Austin and J. C.  Barayoga and G. Billingsley and E. Black and J. K. Blackburn and R. Bork and A. F. Brooks and K. Buckland and C. Cepeda and T. Chalermsongsak and D. C. Coyne and B. Daudert and V. Dergachev and S. Doravari and J. C. Driggers and P. Ehrens and R. Engel and T. Etzel and N. Fotopoulos and E. K. Gustafson and J. Harms and J.  Heefner and A. W. Heptonstall and K. A. Hodge and A. Ivanov and M. Jacobson and E. James and P. Kalmus and W. Kells and P. J. King and V. Kondrashov and W. Z. Korth and D. Kozak and A. Lazzarini and V. Litvine and M. Mageswaran and K. Mailand and E. Maros and D. Martinov and J. N. Marx and G. McIntyre and S. Meshkov and T. Nash and G. H. Ogin and C. Osthelder and M. Pedraza and M. Phelps and C. Poux and L. R. Price and S. Privitera and E. Quintero and D. H. Reitze and N. A. Robertson and J. G. Rollins and V. Sannibale and L. Santamar{\'i}a and F. Seifert and Z. Shao and A. Singer and M. R. Smith and N. D. Smith-Lefebvre and R. Taylor and E. Thrane and C. I. Torrie and S. Vass and L. Wallace and A. J. Weinstein and S. E. Whitcomb and P. A. Willems and R. Williams and T. Williams and H. Yamamoto and D. Yeaton-Massey and L. Zhang and J. Zweizig and Y, Chen and S. Gossan and T. Hong and H. Miao and C. D. Ott and K. S. Thorne and M. Vallisneri and H. Yang and R. W. P. Drever},
            note = {{\copyright} 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited

Received: 23 April 2013. Accepted: 04 June 2013. Published online: 21 July 2013. 

The authors acknowledge support from the United States National Science Foundation for the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Max-Planck-Society and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for supporting the construction and operation of the GEO600 detector. The authors also acknowledge support for the research, by these agencies and by the Australian Research Council, the International Science Linkages programme of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of Italy, the Spanish Ministerio de Econom{\'i}a y Competitividad, the Conselleria d'Economia, Hisenda i Innovaci{\'o} of the Govern de les Illes Balears, the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Research Foundation of Korea, Industry Canada and the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the National Science and Engineering Research Council Canada, the Carnegie Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Research Corporation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 

Author Contributions: The activities of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) include modelling astrophysical sources of gravitational waves, setting sensitivity requirements for observatories, designing, building and running observatories, carrying out research and development of new techniques to increase the sensitivity of these observatories, and performing searches for astrophysical signals contained in the data. S. Dwyer, S. Chua, L. Barsotti and D. Sigg were the leading scientists on this experiment, but a number of LSC members contributed directly to its success. M. Stefszky, A. Khalaidovski, M. Factourovich and C. Mow-Lowry assisted with the development of the squeezed vacuum source under the leadership of N. Mavalvala, D. McClelland and R. Schnabel. K. Kawabe supervised the integration of the squeezed vacuum source into the LIGO interferometer, with invaluable support from M. Landry and the LIGO Hanford Observatory staff. N. Smith-Lefebvre, M. Evans, R. Schofield and C. Vorvick kept the LIGO interferometer at its peak sensitivity and supported the integration of the squeezed vacuum source, with contributions from G. Meadors and D. Gustafson. The initial manuscript was written by L. Barsotti, N. Mavalvala, D. Sigg and D. McClelland. The LSC review of the manuscript was organized by S. Whitcomb. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript. 

The authors declare no competing financial interests.},
           title = {Enhanced sensitivity of the LIGO gravitational wave detector by using squeezed states of light},
       publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
            year = {2013},
         journal = {Nature Photonics},
           pages = {613--619},
             url = {http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20140124-105938310},
        abstract = {Nearly a century after Einstein first predicted the existence of gravitational waves, a global network of Earth-based gravitational wave observatories 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.}
}

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