Capital Equipment in support of 'Investigations in Gravitational Radiation', 2014

爱因斯坦的广义相对论(GR)预测，处于强引力场中的动力系统将以引力辐射的形式释放大量能量。引力波是时空结构中的涟漪，以光速从其来源传播，携带有关导致其发射的物理过程的信息，这是其他任何方式都无法获得的。它们是来自宇宙最深处的最难以捉摸的信号之一。旨在探测它们的实验已经发展了几十年，现在正在达到预计在几年内检测到的灵敏度水平。全球干涉探测器网络包括德国-英国的GEO600、法国-意大利的处女座、美国的激光干涉仪引力波天文台(LIGO)，以及正在建设中的新探测器--日本的KAGRA。以前的探测器都达到了接近其设计目标的灵敏度，并获得了迄今为止最敏感的数据。不同项目之间的合作使得能够在大部分天空中对广泛的来源和现象敏感地持续获取数据。来自GEO、LIGO和处女座的数据已经增加了我们对天文现象的理解。搜索154次伽马射线爆发时的引力波，已经实现了有史以来最好的排除距离，并为银河系外软伽马中继器的来源提供了证据。在最近的运行中，双星黑洞的距离达到了300Mpc，速度上限现在非常接近一些天体物理模型中的预期。对船帆脉冲星引力波的搜索为辐射强度设定了一个上限，大大低于观测到的脉冲星自旋下降速率的预期，相当于恒星椭圆度的千分之一。这项设备建议将支持由我们的综合赠款ST/L000946/1支持的探测器研究和开发实验计划。探测器的灵敏度主要受到与反射镜衬底、反射涂层和悬浮元件相关的热噪声以及由用于传感的光的量子性质产生的噪声的限制。我们的研究目标是在这些领域做出创新性的改进。我们主要负责aLIGO中的二氧化硅悬浮液，以及aLIGO探测器的增强和升级开发，这些领域包括用于低热噪声的镜面涂层、硅衬底、低温悬浮液以及用于对抗量子噪声的改进的干涉仪拓扑结构。

Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (GR) predicts that dynamical systems in strong gravitational fields will release vast amounts of energy in the form of gravitational radiation. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime and travel from their sources at the speed of light, carrying information about physical processes responsible for their emission, obtainable in no other way. They are among the most elusive signals from the deepest reaches in the Universe. Experiments aimed at detecting them have been in development for several decades, and are now reaching sensitivity levels where detection is expected within a few years.The worldwide network of interferometric detectors includes the German-UK GEO600, the French-Italian Virgo, the American Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and is being enhanced with a new detector under construction - KAGRA in Japan. The former detectors have all reached sensitivities close to their design goals and have taken the most sensitive data to date. Cooperation amongst different projects enables continuous data acquisition, with sensitivity to a wide range of sources and phenomena, over most of the sky. Data from GEO, LIGO and Virgo, have already increased our understanding of astronomical phenomena. Search for gravitational waves at the times of 154 gamma-ray bursts has allowed the best ever exclusion distances and provided evidence for extra-Galactic sources of soft-gamma repeaters. The distance reach for binary black holes in the most recent runs is 300 Mpc and the rate upper limits are now very close to that expected in some of the astrophysical models. The search for gravitational waves from the Vela pulsar has set an upper bound on the strength of radiation that is significantly below that expected from the observed spin down rate of the pulsar, corresponding to a limit on the star's ellipticity of a part in a thousand.This proposal for equipment will support the experimental programme of detector research and development supported by our Consolidated Grant ST/L000946/1. Detector sensitivity is mainly limited by thermal noise associated with the substrates of the mirrors, their reflective coatings, and their suspension elements, as well as by noise resulting from the quantum nature of the light used in sensing. Our research is targeted towards making innovative improvements in these areas. We have major responsibilities for the silica suspensions in aLIGO, and in the development of enhancements and upgrades to the aLIGO detectors, in the areas of mirror coatings for low thermal noise, silicon substrates, cryogenic suspensions and improved interferometer topologies to combat quantum noise.