Detector

Cosmology

Observatory

Gravitational-wave astronomy

Astrophysics

LIGO

Physics

Optics

Astronomy

Interferometry

Gravitational wave

Astronomical interferometer

Gravitational-wave observatory

Physical Review Letters

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) has been directly detecting gravitational waves from compact binary mergers since 2015. We report on the first use of squeezed vacuum states in the direct measurement of gravitational waves with the Advanced LIGO H1 and L1 detectors. This achievement is the culmination of decades of research to implement squeezed states in gravitational-wave detectors. During the ongoing O3 observation run, squeezed states are improving the sensitivity of the LIGO interferometers to signals above 50 Hz by up to 3 dB, thereby increasing the expected detection rate by 40% (H1) and 50% (L1).Received 4 October 2019DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.231107Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasGravitational wavesQuantum states of lightTechniquesGravitational wave detectorsGravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Quantum-Enhanced Advanced LIGO Detectors in the Era of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy