ERC Starting Grant · 2021
Revolutionizing Mirror Technology to Discover the Dark Universe
The first detection of gravitational waves, and in particular the observation of merging black holes, which otherwise appear 'dark', has been one of the most exciting scientific achievements of the last decades. With the next generation of even more sensitive detectors, we plan to be able to see gravitational waves from objects as far away as the edge of the observable universe. However, a major limitation to the sensitivity of these detectors is the thermal noise of their core components: the highly-reflective coated interferometer mirrors. The use of cryogenic temperatures will be a major step forward in thermal-noise reduction. However, with current coating technology, the sensitivity…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.