FROnt Surface Type Irradiator, or FROSTI, will allow future detectors to run at higher laser powers, reducing noise and expanding capabilities

tomwt — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 18:01:22 +0000

FROnt Surface Type Irradiator, or FROSTI, will allow future detectors to run at higher laser powers, reducing noise and expanding capabilities tomwt Mon, 11/17/2025 - 10:01 More CNAS in the Media Isabelle Dumé | Physics World October 27, 2025

PHYSICS WORLD - Future versions of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) will be able to run at much higher laser powers thanks to a sophisticated new system that compensates for temperature changes in optical components. Known as FROSTI (for FROnt Surface Type Irradiator) and developed by physicists at the University of California Riverside, US, the system will enable next-generation machines to detect gravitational waves emitted when the universe was just 0.1% of its current age, before the first stars had even formed.

Gravitational waves are distortions in spacetime that occur when massive astronomical objects accelerate and collide. When these distortions pass through the four-kilometre-long arms of the two LIGO detectors, they create a tiny difference in the (otherwise identical) distance that light travels between the centre of the observatory and the mirrors located at the end of each arm. The problem is that detecting and studying gravitational waves requires these differences in distance to be measured with an accuracy of 10-19 m, which is 1/10 000th the size of a proton.

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Laser wavefront-correcting device gives LIGO 10x boost to spot distant gravitational waves

tomwt — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 15:03:14 +0000

Laser wavefront-correcting device gives LIGO 10x boost to spot distant gravitational waves tomwt Mon, 09/29/2025 - 08:03 More CNAS in the Media Rupendra Brahambhatt | Interesting Engineering September 28, 2025

INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Gravitational waves, tiny ripples in spacetime caused by cosmic collisions like merging black holes, are almost impossibly faint. Detecting them requires LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), one of the most sensitive instruments ever built.

However, there’s a catch. To see farther and catch weaker signals, LIGO needs more powerful lasers, but stronger lasers slightly bend the mirrors, and even tiny bends smaller than a proton can block the signals.

A team of researchers has developed a new system called FROSTI to fix this problem, enabling LIGO and future observatories to explore the cosmos more deeply than ever before.

“The problem is, increasing laser power tends to destroy the delicate quantum states we rely on to improve signal clarity. Our new technology solves this tension by making sure the optics remain undistorted, even at megawatt power levels,” Jonathan Richardson, one of the researchers and a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, said.

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