Review of the Advanced LIGO Gravitational Wave Observatories Leading to Observing Run Four

Craig Cahillane, Georgia Mansell

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

Gravitational waves from binary black hole and neutron star mergers are being regularly detected. As of 2021, 90 confident gravitational wave detections have been made by the LIGO and Virgo detectors. Work is ongoing to further increase the sensitivity of the detectors for the fourth observing run, including installing some of the A+ upgrades designed to lower the fundamental noise that limits the sensitivity to gravitational waves. In this review, we will provide an overview of the LIGO detectors optical configuration and lock acquisition procedure, discuss the detectors’ fundamental and technical noise limits, show the current measured sensitivity, and explore the A+ upgrades currently being installed in the detectors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number36
JournalGalaxies
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2022

Keywords

  • Gravitational wave detectors
  • Low-noise high-power laser interferometry
  • Optomechanics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics

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