A Prototype Interferometric Torsion Balance for Low-Frequency Gravitational-Wave Detection

by Dr Krishna Venkateswara (Department of Physics University of Washington Seattle, USA)

Monday 20 Nov 2017, 10:30 → 11:30 Asia/Kolkata

A269 (DAA SEMINAR ROOM)

There have been recent proposals to build terrestrial gravitational-wave detectors in the ~0.1 to 10 Hz frequency range using torsion balances. Such detectors will be sensitive to a different class of long-lived sources compared to LIGO, such as intermediate-mass black-hole binaries. The seminar will describe an early prototype for such a detector, consisting of a torsion balance with an interferometric angle readout with a sensitivity of ~ picoradian/rt(Hz). Experimental challenges and results will be discussed along with plans for near-term upgrades and projected sensitivities.