{"id":206499,"date":"2025-02-15T00:05:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T06:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/new-optical-tech-boosts-gravitational-wave-detection-capabilities"},"modified":"2025-02-15T00:05:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T06:05:50","slug":"new-optical-tech-boosts-gravitational-wave-detection-capabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/new-optical-tech-boosts-gravitational-wave-detection-capabilities","title":{"rendered":"New optical tech boosts gravitational-wave detection capabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XJ-lgnkovMc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.aps.org\/prl\/abstract\/10.1103\/PhysRevLett.134.051401\" target=\"_blank\">paper<\/a> published earlier this month in <i>Physical Review Letters<\/i>, a team of physicists led by Jonathan Richardson of the University of California, Riverside, showcases how new optical technology can extend the detection range of gravitational-wave observatories such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ligo.caltech.edu\/page\/what-is-ligo\" target=\"_blank\">LIGO<\/a>, and pave the way for future observatories.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2015, observatories like LIGO have opened a new window on the universe. Plans for future upgrades to the 4-kilometer LIGO detectors and the construction of a next-generation 40-kilometer observatory, <a href=\"https:\/\/cosmicexplorer.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cosmic Explorer<\/a>, aim to push the gravitational-wave detection horizon to the earliest times in the history of the universe, before the first stars formed. However, realizing these plans hinges on achieving laser power levels exceeding 1 megawatt, far beyond LIGO\u2019s capabilities today.<\/p>\n<p>The research paper reports a breakthrough that will enable gravitational-wave detectors to reach extreme laser powers. It presents a new low-noise, high-resolution <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/adaptive+optics\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">adaptive optics<\/a> approach that can correct the limiting distortions of LIGO\u2019s main 40-kilogram mirrors which arise with increasing laser power due to heating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a paper published earlier this month in Physical Review Letters, a team of physicists led by Jonathan Richardson of the University of California, Riverside, showcases how new optical technology can extend the detection range of gravitational-wave observatories such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, and pave the way for future observatories. Since [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1497,219,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy","category-physics","category-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}