LIGO UAE

What was the purpose of LIGO? 

LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, was designed to open the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.

What did LIGO detect? 

All of this changed on September 14, 2015, when LIGO physically sensed the undulations in spacetime caused by gravitational waves generated by two colliding black holes 1.3 billion light-years away. LIGO’s first detection will go down in history as one of humanity’s greatest scientific achievements.

Where is the current LIGO located? 

LIGO operates two gravitational wave observatories in unison: the LIGO Livingston Observatory (USA) in Livingston, Louisiana, and the LIGO Hanford Observatory, on the DOE Hanford Site located near Richland, Washington. The international detectors include VIRGO in Italy, GEO in Germany, TAMA in Japan, and the proposed consortium of LIGO UAE.

How big is the LIGO system? 

LIGO is the largest of the gravitational wave detectors with arms 4 km (a little less than 2.5 miles) in length interferometers (the international detectors include VIRGO in Italy, GEO in Germany, and TAMA in Japan). The proposed UAE detector is 9km in arms,.

The US future LIGO “Cosmic Explorer” is a proposed third-generation ground-based gravitational wave observatory, with ten times longer arms of 40 km each.

How powerful is the LIGO laser? 

Each fiber carries 45 watts of laser power, so each bundle delivers 315 W (7 fibers x 45 W each) into each HPO rod to prime it to emit more and more laser light. By the time the beam exits the HPO it has finally achieved its desired power of 200 W.