Quantum Enhancement of a 4 km Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Detector

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. Introduction

   • Sheon S. Y. Chua

   Pages 1-10

3. Background

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

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   2. Gravitational Waves and the Quest for Their Direct Detection

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 13-26

   3. Quantum Optics and Light

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 27-45

   4. Quantum Noise in Gravitational-Wave Detectors and Applied Squeezed States

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 47-63

   5. Squeezed State Generation for Gravitational-Wave Detection

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 65-83

4. The Doubly Resonant, Travelling-Wave Squeezed Light Source

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 85-85

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   2. The Doubly Resonant, Travelling-Wave Squeezed Light Source

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 87-116

   3. Backscatter Tolerance of a Travelling-Wave Optical Parametric Oscillator

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 117-129

5. The LIGO H1 Squeezed Light Injection Experiment

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-131

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   2. Overview of the LIGO Squeezed Light Injection Experiment

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 133-145

   3. Squeezing-Enhancement of a 4 km LIGO Gravitational-Wave Detector

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 147-171

   4. Backscattered-Light Impact in a Squeezing-Enhanced Gravitational-Wave Detector

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 173-186

   5. Results Summary, Recommendations and Future Work

      • Sheon S. Y. Chua

      Pages 187-191

6. Back Matter

   Pages 193-220

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The work in this thesis was a part of the experiment of squeezed light injection into the LIGO interferometer. The work first discusses the detailed design of the squeezed light source which would be used for the experiment. The specific design is the doubly-resonant, traveling-wave bow-tie cavity squeezed light source with a new modified coherent sideband locking technique. The thesis describes the properties affecting the squeezing magnitudes and offers solutions which improve the gain. The first part also includes the detailed modeling of the back-scattering noise of a traveling Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO). In the second part, the thesis discusses the LIGO Squeezed Light Injection Experiment, undertaken to test squeezed light injection into a 4km interferometric gravitational wave detector. The results show the first ever measurement of squeezing enhancement in a full-scale suspended gravitational wave interferometer with Fabry-Perot arms. Further, it showed that the presence of a squeezed-light source added no additional noise in the low frequency band. The result was the best sensitivity achieved by any gravitational wave detector. The thesis is very well organized with the adequate theoretical background including basics of Quantum Optics, Quantum noise pertaining to gravitational wave detectors in various configurations, along with extensive referencing necessary for the experimental set-up. For any non-experimental scientist, this introduction is a very useful and enjoyable reading. The author is the winner of the 2013 GWIC Theses Prize.

• Gravitational-wave Detectors
• LIGO
• Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory
• Quantum Enhancement
• Quantum Noise
• Quantum Optics
• Springer Theses
• Squeezed Light States
• Travelling-Wave Squeezed Light Source

• Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France

  Sheon S. Y. Chua

Sheon S. Y. Chua received his PhD in Physics from The Australian National University in 2013. He won the 2013 GWIC Thesis Prize – The annual prize for an outstanding Ph.D. thesis based on research in gravitational waves, awarded by the Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC). He is currently holding the position of a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Laboratoire Kastler Brossel at the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris.

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