Stanford Program in Support of LIGO - Seismic Isolation and Controls

斯坦福大学的团队致力于通过开发技术和技术来改善光学隔离和减少地面运动对探测器的影响，从而提高NSF的激光干涉仪引力波天文台(LIGO)的性能和可靠性。该奖项将帮助LIGO实施一项新的辅助激光传感技术，以改善地面运动隔离系统的控制并降低噪音。它还支持通过开发先进的控制技术来更好地集成隔离和悬挂子系统来降低悬挂光学系统噪声的研究。由这笔赠款资助的改进的技术和控制计划将有助于最大限度地提高这些一流设施的科学产出。这项奖励还支持设计新的悬浮物，这将对现有探测器的天体物理覆盖范围进行重大升级。这笔赠款支持开发几种补充方法来改进LIGO。它支持斯坦福大学测试设施中地震平台干涉仪(SPI)的建造和测试。该SPI设计用于以干涉测量方式连接天文台的各种隔离系统，以显著降低频率低于1赫兹的惯性和相对运动。这些传感器现在正在实验室规模上运行，该奖项为将这些传感器转移到LIGO天文台的第一个实施提供了支持。这种集成应能降低控制噪声并提高LIGO检测器的稳健性。从长远来看，这笔赠款支持为LIGO的A#(遵循A+，目前正在由LIGO科学合作开发)升级的新的“重悬架”的设计工作。通过将主镜的质量从40公斤增加到100公斤，并提高悬挂系统的可控性，这次升级应该可以让探测器接触到基波噪声源，一直到10赫兹。这一低频性能的改进将显著提高LIGO探测器看到双星中子星的激发相并测量质量超过太阳100倍的黑洞的能力。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The team at Stanford works to improve the performance and reliability of NSF's Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGO) by developing technology and techniques to improve the isolation of the optics and reduce the impact of ground motion on the detectors. This award will help LIGO implement a new auxiliary laser sensing technology to improve the control and lower the noise of the ground motion isolation systems. It also supports research to reduce the noise of the suspended optics by developing advanced control techniques to better integrate the isolation and suspension subsystems. The improved technology and control schemes funded by this grant will help maximize the scientific output of these premier facilities. This award also supports the design of new suspensions which will provide a significant upgrade to the astrophysical reach of the existing detectors.This grant supports development of several complementary approaches to improving LIGO. It supports the construction and testing of a Seismic Platform Interferometer (SPI) in the test facility at Stanford. This SPI is designed to interferometrically connect the various isolation systems at the Observatories to dramatically reduce the inertial and the relative motion at frequencies below 1 Hz. These sensors are now running at the lab scale and this award provides the support to move these into a first implementation at a LIGO observatory. This integration should reduce the control noise and improve robustness of the LIGO detectors. In the long term, this grant supports the design effort for the new “Heavy Suspension” for an upgrade for LIGO known as A# (to follow A+ which and now being developed by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration). By increasing the mass of the main mirrors from 40 kg to 100 kg and improving the controllability of the suspension system, this upgrade should allow the detectors to reach fundamental noise sources all the way down to 10 Hz. This low frequency performance improvement will significantly improve the ability of the LIGO detectors to see the inspiral phase of binary neutron stars and measure the merger of black holes which are more than 100 times the mass of our sun.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.