Abstract
Current interferometric gravitational-wave detectors are limited by quantum noise over a wide range of their measurement bandwidth. One method to overcome the quantum limit is the injection of squeezed vacuum states of light into the interferometer's dark port. Here, we report on the successful application of this quantum technology to improve the shot noise limited sensitivity of the Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detector. A sensitivity enhancement of up to 3.2±0.1 dB beyond the shot noise limit is achieved. This nonclassical improvement corresponds to a 5%-8% increase of the binary neutron star horizon. The squeezing injection was fully automated and over the first 5months of the third joint LIGO-Virgo observation run O3 squeezing was applied for more than 99% of the science time. During this period several gravitational-wave candidates have been recorded.
Highlights
The current operating ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, namely Advanced LIGO [1], AdvancedVirgo [2], and GEO600 [3], are based on kilometer-scaleMichelson-type laser interferometers
Since the beginning of the O3 observation run, which started in April 2019, the Advanced Virgo detector sensitivity has routinely been improved via the injection of squeezed vacuum states of light
The squeezing technology was successfully implemented in the Advanced Virgo detector and commissioned to enhance the detection sensitivity of the third joint LIGOVirgo observation run O3
Summary
The current operating ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, namely Advanced LIGO [1], AdvancedVirgo [2], and GEO600 [3], are based on kilometer-scaleMichelson-type laser interferometers. The advanced observatories are among the most sensitive instruments naroowuandday1s0−a2n3d=pcffiHaffiffinffizffiffi achieve strain sensitivities at a in the audio band. Because of level their effective decoupling from environmental and technical noise sources, these detectors are limited in their sensitivity at most frequencies by quantum noise, which arises from the quantum nature of light and is driven by vacuum fluctuations of the optical field entering from the dark port of the interferometer. Quantum light fluctuations affect the Advanced Virgo detector via two uncorrelated mechanisms: the radiation pressure noise that is directly proportional to the optical power impinging on the test masses and inversely proportional to the square of the Fourier frequency, and the shot noise that is inversely proportional to the operating optical power.
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