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Could This Bold New Technique Boost Gravitational-Wave Detection? (space.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the fun-with-photons dept.

Slashdot reader astroengine writes: One of the most expensive, complex and problematic components in gravitational wave detectors like the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) — which made the first, historic detection of these ripples in space-time in September 2015 — is the 4-kilometer-long vacuum chambers that house all the interferometer optics. But what if this requirement for ground-based gravitational wave detectors isn't required? This suggestion has been made by a pair of physicists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) who are developing a method that could allow extremely sensitive interferometers to operate in the "open air."

Their work, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, uses the weird quantum properties of light to counteract interference from turbulence in the air to allow interferometer measurements to be made. Their method, which is a variation on the classic Young's double-slit experiment, has been demonstrated in a tabletop experiment — but gravitational wave scientists are skeptical that it could be scaled up to remove sophisticated vacuums from their detectors.

3 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Clickbait by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Dear slashdot editor,

    Fuck you and your fucking clickbait-style headline.
    I have read neither the fucking summary nor the fucking article because fuck you.

    kind regards,
    Go fuck yourself.

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    1. Re:Clickbait by chihowa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not the topic, which is interesting, but the headline that is bullshit clickbait. "Could this one weird trick boost gravitational-wave detection?"

      More and more headlines are reading like that and I find myself coming here less and less. (Interestingly, since I rarely come here, I get mod points every time and use them instead of posting. Posting less, I get fewer responses and less of a pull to engage in discussion, which makes me come even less. Negative feedback loop...)

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  2. This one WEIRD trick that Slashdot readers HATE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Clickbait buzzword headlines. Jesus christ Slashdot advertisers, I mean "editors."