Gravitational waves in a new light

ABSTRACT:
Ultra-precisely stabilised lasers are the interferometric light sources at the heart of gravitational wave detectors. To achieve ever-higher detection rates for meaningful gravitational wave astronomy, ever-greater detection sensitivity is required. In this talk I will introduce the principle of interferometric gravitational wave detection, and highlight some of the advanced technologies employed in Advanced LIGO.
Current-generation gravitational wave detectors are already limited by quantum noise of the laser light over wide ranges of their detection band. One sophisticated technique that is already routinely being employed to increase the quantum-limited sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors is the use of non-classical (fixed-quadrature squeezed) light. I will conclude my talk by showing some recent results, as well as options for quantum noise reduction in laser interferometry and the broader field of quantum optics.  

BIOGRAPHY:
Born in 1975, MH studied physics in Hannover, and did her diploma thesis at the „Institut für Atom- und Molekülphysik, Abteilung Spektroskopie“ on the topic of „Long-term frequency stabilisation of a Nd:YAG laser system for GEO600“. She defended her PhD in Dec. 2004 at the Institute for Gravitational Physics on the topic of „Gravitational waves in a new light: novel stabilisation schemes for solid state lasers“, and was a PostDoc at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics from 2005 to 2007. From 2007 to 2010 she was a PostDoc at the University of New South Wales (Australia) in the group of Elanor Huntington. In July 2010 she returned to Hannover to start a junior professorship on the topic of „Fundamental Noise Sources in Laser Interferometers“ within the Centre of Excellence QUEST (Quantum Engineering and Space-Time Research).  Since 2016 she is a professor for experimental physics at Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH) and works in the field of „Non-classical laser interferometry“. She is a long-time member and since 2015 a council member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC). In 2017 she received the teaching award of LUH. She is currently the dean of QUEST Leibniz Forschungsschule, an interdisciplinary faculty at LUH, as well as co-speaker of the Centre of Excellence “QuantumFrontiers”. Her research interests are non-classical light sources („squeezed light“), in particular at high frequencies, quantum radiation pressure noise reduction techniques (such as Coherent Quantum Noise Cancellation), precision metrology, novel laser stabilisation techniques, metamaterials, as well 

The recording can be found here.