Optical Squeezing for Next Generation Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors
Michael S Stefszky
(Australian National University)
Coauthor(s): Sheon Chua, Conor Mow-Lowry, Benjamin C Buchler, Kirk McKenzie, Sheila Dwyer, Ping Koy Lam and David E. McClelland
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The injection of squeezed states of light will improve the shot-noise limited sensitivity of operational gravitational-wave interferometers. This will potentially allow a detector to operate at design sensitivity with lower laser power or improve the noise performance of a detector operating at full power. The Centre for Gravitational Physics at the ANU has designed and fabricated the optical parametric oscillator (OPO), the crucial component of a squeezed light source, for likely use in a test experiment on the 4 km LIGO H1 interferometer, after the S6 run and before the Advanced LIGO build. The gain in detection sensitivity and the interaction between the interferometer and squeezer of a full-scale gravitational-wave interferometer will be investigated. The results showing the performance of the planned LIGO H1 Squeezing OPO, including the latest low frequency (100Hz – 10kHz) squeezing data, will also be presented.