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arXiv · 2502.06702

Expanding the Quantum-Limited Gravitational-Wave Detection Horizon

Liu Tao·Mohak Bhattacharya·Peter Carney·Luis Martin Gutierrez·Luke Johnson·Shane Levin·Cynthia Liang·Xuesi Ma·Michael Padilla·Tyler Rosauer·Aiden Wilkin·Jonathan W. Richardson
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Abstract

We demonstrate the potential of new adaptive optical technology to expand the detection horizon of gravitational-wave observatories. Achieving greater quantum-noise-limited sensitivity to spacetime strain hinges on achieving higher circulating laser power, in excess of 1~MW, in conjunction with highly-squeezed quantum states of light. The new technology will enable significantly higher levels of laser power and squeezing in gravitational-wave detectors, by providing high-precision, low-noise correction of limiting sources of thermal distortions directly to the core interferometer optics. In simulated projections for LIGO~A+, assuming an input laser power of 125~W and an effective injected squeezing level of 9~dB entering the interferometer, an initial concept of this technology can reduce the noise floor of the detectors by up to 20\% from 200~Hz to 5~kHz, corresponding to an increment of 4~Mpc in the sky-averaged detection range for binary neutron star mergers. This work lays the foundation for one of the key technology improvements essential to fully utilize the scientific potential of the existing 4-km LIGO facilities, to observe black hole merger events past a redshift of~5, and opens a realistic pathway towards a next-generation 40-km gravitational-wave observatory in the United States, Cosmic~Explorer.

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Liu Tao, Mohak Bhattacharya, Peter Carney, Luis Martin Gutierrez, Luke Johnson, Shane Levin, Cynthia Liang, Xuesi Ma, Michael Padilla, Tyler Rosauer, Aiden Wilkin, Jonathan W. Richardson. 2025-02-10. Expanding the Quantum-Limited Gravitational-Wave Detection Horizon. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.051401

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