SOGRO — Terrestrial full-tensor detector for mid-frequency gravitational waves

Abstract

Laser interferometer gravitational-wave (GW) detectors are observing signals from merging black hole and neutron star binaries with a frequency window from 10[Formula: see text]Hz to several kHz. Future space-based laser interferometers will open a new window of 0.1[Formula: see text]mHz to 0.1[Formula: see text]Hz. In this paper, we discuss the possibility of constructing a terrestrial GW detector named Superconducting Omni-directional Gravitational Radiation Observatory (SOGRO), which can fill the missing frequency window, 0.1 to 10[Formula: see text]Hz, with astronomically interesting sensitivity. SOGRO measures all five tensor components of the spacetime metric, which results in uniform sensitivity for all-sky directions and enables identification of the source direction and wave polarization with a single detector. Seismic and Newtonian gravity noise pose the greatest challenges for constructing ground-based detectors below 10[Formula: see text]Hz. SOGRO utilizes enhanced mechanical and electrical stabilities of materials at cryogenic temperatures to reject common-mode seismic noise to a very high degree. Further, its full-tensor characteristic gives an advantage in the rejection of the Newtonian noise over conventional detectors.