April 03, 2006 (Monday)

Advanced LIGO: Building the Foundation for the Next Gravitational Wave Observatory

Brian Lantz
Ginzton Lab
Stanford University
 

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) is an ambitious project to measure gravitational waves from astrophysical sources and use these measurements to open a new observational window on the universe. Caused by accelerating masses, a gravitational wave is a traveling disturbance in the metric of space-time. They were predicted by Einstein, but because of their small amplitudes, have not (yet) been directly measured. LIGO is a 4 km baseline, high-precision laser interferometer designed to detect these waves. I will describe the current LIGO project, and discuss Advanced LIGO, the proposed upgrade to the current observatory. I will focus on the development of the advanced seismic isolation and alignment platforms. With a predicted motion of less that 10 picometers rms between 1 and 100 Hz, these platforms represent a dramatic improvement in our ability to isolate the interferometer optics from environmental disturbance, and they literally form the foundation of the proposed Observatory.

LIGO is supported by the National Science Foundation and administered by Caltech.

Time: 3:00 pm
Location: Lecture Room 5

Refreshments will be served in Rm. N201 at 2:30 PM