WASHINGTON — Gravitational wave detectors are going quantum. A planned revamp of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, LIGO, relies on finessing quantum techniques ...

LIGO first became world-famous in Sept. 2015, when it detected gravitational waves from merging black holes for the first time. These ripples had traveled for around 1.4 billion years, squashing ...

LIGO achieved its primary mission in 2015, and the roster of gravitational wave candidates has only grown. The project has even been able to capture the sound of two black holes merging.

DARK DETECTION The black holes LIGO detected could be dark matter, in the form of primordial black holes that formed in the infant universe. Alain r/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5) ...

One of LIGO’s four 40-kg mirrors cooled during the experiment. Together, these mirrors form a mechanical oscillator of 10-kg — which the team cooled down in their experiment.

LIGO’s detectors in Hanford, WA and Livingston, LA both picked up the signal, dubbed GW170104. This makes the collision the third black hole merger LIGO has detected—and the most powerful.

LIGO's second detection was announced a few months ago, and it could present just as likely a target. The procedures refined here can be applied to later observations, down the road.

In March 2023, the gravitational wave detector LIGO will resume operations with increased sensitivity as it searches for the ripples in space-time triggered by violent events such as black hole ...