Scientists have created a proof of concept setup for a new laser signature mode sensor with a sensitivity of more than 1000 times When this work is transformed into gravitational wave detectors, they will provide unprecedented accuracy to test the basic limits of general relativity and detect the interior of neutron stars.
Gravitational wave scientists from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have led the development of a new laser mode sensor with unprecedented accuracy, which will be used to detect the interior of neutron stars and test the basic limits of general relativity.
Gravitational waves are space-time "ripples" caused by some of the most powerful and intense processes in the universe, such as the mutual detour of neutron stars or black holes, the collision of black holes, supernovae and neutron stars.
Dr. Aaron Jones, a research assistant from the center for excellence in gravitational wave discovery (ozgrav UWA) of the University of Western Australia, said that the University of Western Australia coordinated the global cooperation of gravitational wave, meta surface and photonics experts, and created a new method to measure the structure of light called "characteristic mode".
"Gravitational wave detectors like LIGO, Virgo and kagra store a lot of optical power, and several pairs of mirrors are used to increase the amount of laser stored along the detector's huge arms," Dr. Jones said.
"However, each of these pairs of mirrors has a slight distortion, which scatters the light from the perfect shape of the laser beam, which may cause excessive noise in the detector, limit the sensitivity and take the detector offline." "We want to test the idea of amplifying the laser beam and looking for small 'wobble' power that may limit the sensitivity of the detector."
Dr. Jones said that similar problems have been encountered in the telecommunications industry. Scientists are studying how to use multiple feature modes to transmit more data on optical fibers.
"Scientists in the telecommunications industry have developed a method to measure feature patterns using simple instruments, but it is not sensitive enough for our purposes. We have the idea of using a meta surface -- an ultra-thin surface with a special pattern encoded by sub wavelength size -- and have contacted partners who can help us make one," he said
The proof of concept device developed by the team is more than onethousand times more sensitive than the original equipment developed by telecom scientists. Researchers will now seek to turn this work into a gravitational wave detector.
Associate professor zhaochunnong, chief researcher of ozgrav UWA, said that this development is another progress in detecting and analyzing the information carried by gravitational waves, enabling us to observe the universe in a new way.
Zhaochunnong said: "if we want to understand the interior of neutron stars and further observe the universe in an unprecedented way, it is very important to solve the mode sensing problem of future gravitational wave detectors."
This breakthrough was published in physical review a 》Is detailed in a study.