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A gravitational wave observatory operating beyond the quantum shot-noise limit

Nature Physics volume 7, pages 962–965 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Around the globe several observatories are seeking the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs). These waves are predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity1 and are generated, for example, by black-hole binary systems2. Present GW detectors are Michelson-type kilometre-scale laser interferometers measuring the distance changes between mirrors suspended in vacuum. The sensitivity of these detectors at frequencies above several hundred hertz is limited by the vacuum (zero-point) fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. A quantum technology—the injection of squeezed light3—offers a solution to this problem. Here we demonstrate the squeezed-light enhancement of GEO 600, which will be the GW observatory operated by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration in its search for GWs for the next 3–4 years. GEO 600 now operates with its best ever sensitivity, which proves the usefulness of quantum entanglement and the qualification of squeezed light as a key technology for future GW astronomy4.

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Figure 1: Simplified optical layout of the squeezed-light enhanced GEO 600 observatory.
Figure 2: View into the GEO 600 central building.
Figure 3: Nonclassical reduction of the GEO 600 instrumental noise using squeezed vacuum states of light.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of 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, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the cluster of excellence QUEST (Centre for Quantum Engineering and Space-Time Research), the BMBF, the Volkswagen Foundation, and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for support of the construction and operation of the GEO 600 detector. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of the research by these agencies and by the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS), the SFB TR7, the FP7 project Q-ESSENCE, the Australian Research Council, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of Italy, the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, 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 Carnegie Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Research Corporation, and the A. P. Sloan Foundation.

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  1. LIGO—California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

    J. Abadie, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, R. Adhikari, S. B. Anderson, K. Arai, M. C. Araya, J. Betzwieser, G. Billingsley, E. Black, J. K. Blackburn, R. Bork, A. F. Brooks, C. Cepeda, T. Chalermsongsak, A. Corsi, D. C. Coyne, R. Dannenberg, B. Daudert, V. Dergachev, R. DeSalvo, J. C. Driggers, P. Ehrens, R. Engel, T. Etzel, N. Fotopoulos, E. K. Gustafson, C. Hanna, J. Harms, J. Heefner, A. W. Heptonstall, K. A. Hodge, A. Ivanov, M. Jacobson, P. Kalmus, W. Kells, P. J. King, V. Kondrashov, W. Z. Korth, D. Kozak, A. Lazzarini, P. E. Lindquist, M. Mageswaran, K. Mailand, E. Maros, J. N. Marx, G. McIntyre, S. Meshkov, T. Nash, G. H. Ogin, C. Osthelder, P. Ajith, P. Patel, M. Pedraza, M. Phelps, L. R. Price, S. Privitera, N. A. Robertson, V. Sannibale, L. Santamaría, A. C. Searle, F. Seifert, A. S. Sengupta, A. Singer, L. Singer, M. R. Smith, A. Stochino, R. Taylor, C. I. Torrie, S. Vass, A. E. Villar, L. Wallace, R. L. Ward, A. J. Weinstein, S. E. Whitcomb, P. A. Willems, H. Yamamoto, D. Yeaton-Massey, L. Zhang & J. Zweizig

  2. SUPA, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK

    M. Abernathy, B. Barr, R. Bassiri, M. Bastarrika, A. S. Bell, N. Beveridge, P. Campsie, A. Cumming, L. Cunningham, M. Edgar, K. Evans, C. Gill, A. Grant, N. Gray, G. Hammond, K. Haughian, M. A. Hendry, I. S. Heng, S. Hild, J. Hough, S. H. Huttner, R. Jones, R. Kumar, C. Lawrie, E. Macdonald, I. W. Martin, P. G. Murray, R. Nawrodt, J. Nelson, G. Newton, M. Pitkin, M. V. Plissi, S. Reid, N. A. Robertson, S. Rowan, I. Santiago-Prieto, J. Scott, B. Sorazu, F. C. Speirits, K. A. Strain, C. I. Torrie, A. A. van Veggel & G. Woan

  3. LIGO—Livingston Observatory, Livingston, LA 70754, USA

    C. Adams, J. Birch, D. O. Bridges, T. Evans, E. Forsi, V. V. Frolov, M. Fyffe, J. A. Giaime, K. D. Giardina, C. Guido, J. Hanson, K. Holt, T. Huynh-Dinh, W. Katzman, D. L. Kinzel, M. Lormand, M. S. Meyer, D. Nolting, B. O’Reilly, H. Overmier, C. R. Ramet, R. Riesen, S. Roddy, J. H. Romie, D. Sellers, A. Sibley, A. L. Stuver, K. A. Thorne, C. Torres, G. Traylor, S. Wen, R. Wooley & I. Yakushin

  4. Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-30167 Hannover, Germany

    C. Affeldt, B. Allen, P. Aufmuth, C. Aulbert, J. Bauchrowitz, A. Bertolini, O. Bock, C. Bogan, M. Born, J. Breyer, M. Brinkmann, M. Britzger, O. Burmeister, K. Dahl, K. Danzmann, J. Degallaix, J. DiGuglielmo, I. Di Palma, T. Eberle, H. Fehrmann, M. Frede, D. Friedrich, E. Goetz, S. Goßler, C. Graef, H. Grote, B. Hage, M. Hewitson, H. Kaufer, F. Kawazoe, D. G. Keppel, A. Khalaidovski, H. Kim, V. Kringel, G. Kuehn, P. Kwee, N. Lastzka, J. R. Leong, H. Lück, B. Machenschalk, G. Mazzolo, M. Mehmet, T. Meier, K. Mossavi, H. Müller-Ebhardt, M. Pickenpack, H. J. Pletsch, J. Pöld, M. Prijatelj, R. Prix, O. Puncken, C. Röver, A. Rüdiger, H. Ryll, F. Salemi, A. Samblowski, R. Schilling, R. Schnabel, B. Schulz, M. Shaltev, J. Steinlechner, S. Steinlechner, S. P. Tarabrin, J. R. Taylor, A. Thüring, H. Vahlbruch, C. Veltkamp, A. Wanner, M. Weinert, P. Wessels, T. Westphal, K. Wette, B. Willke, L. Winkelmann, W. Winkler, H. Wittel & K. Yamamoto

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  9. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA

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  10. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

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  11. Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany

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  12. Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-14476 Golm, Germany

    S. Babak, B. Behnke, I. Gholami, S. Grunewald, B. Krishnan, P. Leaci, P. Moesta, M. A. Papa, C. Peralta, E. L. Robinson & B. F. Schutz

  13. Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA

    P. Baker & N. Cornish

  14. Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota 55057, USA

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  15. LIGO—Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

    L. Barsotti, T. P. Bodiya, T. R. Corbitt, F. Donovan, S. Dwyer, M. Evans, S. Foley, P. Fritschel, G. M. Harry, E. Katsavounidis, J. S. Kissel, M. MacInnis, I. Mandel, K. Mason, F. Matichard, N. Mavalvala, R. Mittleman, E. Oelker, S. Sankar, B. Shapiro, D. H. Shoemaker, N. D. Smith, J. Soto, A. J. Stein, R. Vaulin, S. J. Waldman, R. Weiss, C. C. Wipf & M. E. Zucker

  16. University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia

    P. Barriga, D. Blair, S. Chung, D. M. Coward, J-C. Dumas, Y. Fan, S. Gras, S. Hooper, E. J. Howell, L. Ju, D. Kim, H. Miao, S. Susmithan, L. Wen, S. E. Whitcomb, Z. Zhang & C. Zhao

  17. Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA

    I. Bartos, I. Belopolski, M. Factourovich, S. Márka, Z. Márka, L. Matone, D. Murphy, K. Redwine & J. Rollins

  18. The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, Brownsville, Texas 78520, USA

    M. Benacquista, R. Biswas, T. D. Creighton, H. Daveloza, M. Díaz, R. Grosso, S. D. Mohanty, S. Mukherjee, V. Quetschke, M. Rakhmanov, J. D. Romano, R. Stone & A. S. Stroeer

  19. San Jose State University, San Jose, California 95192, USA

    P. T. Beyersdorf & M. Cordier

  20. Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia

    I. A. Bilenko, V. B. Braginsky, S. L. Danilishin, M. L. Gorodetsky, F. Y. Khalili, V. P. Mitrofanov, L. Prokhorov, S. Strigin & S. P. Vyatchanin

  21. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA

    R. Bondarescu, L. S. Finn, R. P. Fisher, M. Kinsey, R. Kopparapu, M. Lang, A. P. Lundgren, D. Menendez, B. J. Owen, C. Titsler & H. R. Williams

  22. Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA

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  23. Caltech-CaRT, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

    Y. Chen, T. Hong, J. Luan, C. D. Ott, K. Somiya, K. S. Thorne, M. Vallisneri, L. Wen & H. Yang

  24. University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA

    J. E. Brau, R. Frey, E. D. Harstad, I. Leonor & R. M. S. Schofield

  25. Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA

    S. Ballmer, D. A. Brown, C. D. Capano, P. Couvares, J. A. Garofoli, L. Pekowsky, A. Perreca, P. R. Saulson, P. Wei & M. West

  26. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, HSIC, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK

    A. Brummitt, R. J. S. Greenhalgh & J. O’Dell

  27. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

    A. Buonanno, J. B. Kanner, E. Ochsner, Y. Pan & P. Shawhan

  28. University of Massachusetts—Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA

    L. Cadonati, D. Hoak, J. McIver & S. R. P. Mohapatra

  29. The University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677, USA

    M. Cavagliá & B. Rankins

  30. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA

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  31. Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

    J. Cao, Z. Du, R. Geng, J. Li, Y. Wan, X. Wang, Z. Wang & W. Zhang

  32. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

    S. Caride, R. Gustafson, G. D. Meadors & K. Riles

  33. Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia

    P. Charlton

  34. Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia

    S. S. Y. Chua, R. Inta, P. K. Lam, D. E. McClelland, J. Miller, C. M. Mow-Lowry, A. Mullavey, S. M. Scott, D. A. Shaddock, B. J. J. Slagmolen, M. Stefszky & A. Wade

  35. The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia

    C. T. Y. Chung, A. Melatos & L. Sammut

  36. Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF24 3AA, UK

    J. Clark, G. Davies, T. Dent, M. Edwards, S. Fairhurst, I. W. Harry, G. Jones, I. Kamaretsos, D. M. Macleod, D. J. A. McKechan, C. Messenger, L. Nuttall, V. Predoi, C. Robinson, B. S. Sathyaprakash, B. F. Schutz, P. J. Sutton & J. Veitch

  37. University of Salerno, I-84084 Fisciano (Salerno), Italy and INFN (Sezione di Napoli), Italy

    R. Conte & F. Postiglione

  38. The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK

    E. J. Daw & D. White

  39. Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune 411007, India

    S. Dhurandhar & R. Gupta

  40. Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA

    S. C. McGuire

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  42. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

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  43. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA

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  44. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA

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  45. Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1117, Hungary

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  46. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona 86301, USA

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  47. National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan

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  52. University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XQ, UK

    N. A. Lockerbie & K. V. Tokmakov

  53. University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA

    A. C. Melissinos

  54. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York 14456, USA

    S. Penn

  55. University of Sannio at Benevento, I-82100 Benevento, Italy and INFN (Sezione di Napoli), Italy

    I. M. Pinto & M. Principe

  56. Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana 71272, USA

    T. Reed & N. Zotov

  57. Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49104, USA

    T. Z. Summerscales

  58. McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana 70609, USA

    G. Santostasi

  59. California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, California 92831, USA

    T. D. Abbott & J. R. Smith

  60. Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas 78212, USA

    D. Ugolini

  61. Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623, USA

    P. Peiris & J. T. Whelan

  62. Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, Louisiana 70402, USA

    S. Yoshida

  63. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-4290, USA

    S. Schlamminger

  64. Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3H8, Canada

    K. Cannon

  65. Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea

    H. Cho, Y-M. Kim & C. H. Lee

  66. Lund Observatory, SE-221 00, Lund, Box 43, Sweden

    C. Kim

  67. Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea

    K. Kim

  68. Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, Daejeon 305-806, Korea

    H. Jang, G. Kang & B. Kim

  69. National Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Daejeon 305-390, Korea

    T. Ha, J. J. Oh & S. H. Oh

  70. Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea

    H. M. Lee

  71. University of Szeged, Dóm tér 9, 6720 Szeged, Hungary

    L. Á. Gergely & Z. Keresztes

  72. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada

    C. Hanna

  73. Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India

    A. S. Sengupta

  74. Laboratoire APC, 75205 Paris, Cedex 13, France

    R. L. Ward

Consortia

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  • , D. Hoak
  • , K. A. Hodge
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  • , P. Wei
  • , M. Weinert
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  • , S. Wen
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Contributions

A list of authors and their affiliations appear in the Supplementary Information The activities of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) cover modelling astrophysical sources of gravitational waves, setting sensitivity requirements of observatories, designing, building and running observatories and researching new techniques to increase the sensitivity of these observatories, and performing searches for astrophysical signals contained in the data. The principal investigators of the advancement reported here are H.G. and R.S., being responsible for GEO 600 and for the squeezed-light laser during the past 3 years, in which this experiment was prepared and conducted, respectively. In this period a great number of the LSC members contributed directly to the success of this project. H.V. and H.G. supervised the integration of the squeezed-light laser into GEO 600. Together with A.K., they took and analysed the data shown. The initial manuscript was written by a team involving those mentioned above together with R.S. The manuscript went into a two-stage LSC-wide review process, which was organized and led by R.F., T.R.C., M.H., and D.Sigg. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Schnabel.

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The author declare no competing financial interests.

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The LIGO Scientific Collaboration. A gravitational wave observatory operating beyond the quantum shot-noise limit. Nature Phys 7, 962–965 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2083

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