Massachusetts – A new technology has been developed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Australian National University. This recent innovation seeks to make the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) more sensitive to gravitational waves, which are ripples in the fabric of space-time. This new tool will reveal more about the universe.

The Optica journal published a study where researchers say they have improved the squeezed vacuum. Adding the newly squeezed vacuum technology to the LIGO detector could double its sensitivity. And if the sensitivity is indeed doubled, the laser would be able to detect weaker or farthest waves than the one detected in February.

hanford_ligo_advanced
Four-kilometer-long arms of the LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington state, USA. Together with its sister interferometer in Louisiana, these gravitational wave detectors continue to be upgraded and are now more sensitive than ever. Image courtesy of Astronomy Picture of the Day, NASA.

Nergis Mavalvala, a member of the MIT and author of the current study said they want to use the Advanced LIGO detectors to sense the farthest gravitational wave or the weakest wave possible, reported Cosmo Magazine.

The improved squeezed vacuum is based on the work of researchers at the University of Hamburg and the Leibniz University of Hannover, both located in Germany.

Once the sensitivity of the Advanced LIGO has been improved, the laser will start detecting gravitational waves to help understand the composition of neutron stars. These stars are extremely dense and contain the mass of the sun in only 10 kilometers diameter. The radius of the sun is 700 hundred kilometers.

Scientists have not figured how these stars neutrons behave when they are compacted into a dense package. The gravitational waves that occurred in higher frequencies are made by the neutrons that collide with each other that eventually rip each other apart.

Mavalvala added that combining the optical losses that they think they can achieve with this new lower phase noise result, they can aim for a factor or two improvements for the Advanced LIGO. She hopes to obtain better improvements in gravitational wave sensitive than was previously possible, Phys Org says.

This squeeze vacuum was not part of the original design.

Why are gravitational waves being detected now and why it is important to study them

The previous attempts to watch the universe were devices that used light, which was a problem because many processes in the universe are inherently dark, and light is not enough to see through them.

Mavalvala, says that since many of these dark processes involve gravity, they want to observe the universe using gravity as a messenger, Phys Org reports.

At the beginning of the year, scientists at the LIGO observatory announced the first ever detection of gravitational waves. The waves came from 2 black holes that after rotating around each other several times per second, merged in a violent, energetic explosion, resulting in the spacetime ripples.

The newly squeezed vacuum innovation is planned to be integrated next year.

The study of gravitational waves is important because it collects information about cataclysmic astrophysical that includes black holes and neutron stars collision.

Source: Phys Org