Prospects for doubling the range of Advanced LIGO

TL;DR

This paper discusses technological upgrades for Advanced LIGO, including quantum noise reduction and thermal noise mitigation, projecting a potential doubling of its broadband sensitivity for gravitational wave detection.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of multiple upgrade strategies and quantifies their combined impact on enhancing Advanced LIGO's sensitivity.

Findings

Potential to double broadband sensitivity

Effective upgrade progression outlined

Quantitative assessment of noise reduction technologies

Abstract

In the coming years, the gravitational wave community will be optimizing detector performance for a variety of astrophysical sources that make competing demands on the detector sensitivity in different frequency bands. In this paper we describe a number of technologies that are being developed as anticipated upgrades to the Advanced LIGO detector, and quantify the potential sensitivity improvement they offer. Specifically, we consider squeezed light injection for reduction of quantum noise, detector design and materials changes which reduce thermal noise, and mirrors with significantly increased mass. We explore how each of these technologies impacts the detection of the most promising gravitational wave sources, and suggest an effective progression of upgrades which culminate in a factor of two broadband sensitivity improvement.