All articles tagged with #interferometer
After a 1972 proposal, physicists spent 43 years refining ultra-sensitive laser interferometers before LIGO detected gravitational waves from a black-hole merger 1.3 billion light-years away in 2015, a milestone that earned a Nobel Prize and reshaped our understanding of the universe.
Researchers cooled and sent a sodium cluster about 8 nm in diameter (≈170,000 amu) through an interferometer to reveal wave-like interference, marking the largest object observed in quantum superposition and showing quantum mechanics applies to sizeable nanoparticles despite decoherence in larger systems.
Physicist Ralf Schützhold proposes an experiment to manipulate gravitational waves using light, potentially enabling the transfer of energy between light and gravitational waves and providing insights into the quantum nature of gravity, building on the principles of interferometry similar to LIGO.
NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has awarded $175,000 to University of Washington astronomer Matthew McQuinn to develop a solar-system-scale interferometer for measuring cosmological distances with unprecedented precision. The proposal involves deploying a constellation of radio dishes more than 10 AU apart in deep space to detect fast radio bursts from beyond the Milky Way. This Phase I grant will allow McQuinn to refine the mission concept and assess its feasibility. NIAC has also funded 12 other innovative projects, including a Venus sample return mission, an electric airplane for Mars, and miniaturized spacecraft for interstellar travel.