A Crystal-based Matter-wave Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel gravitational-wave detector called MIGO, utilizing atom interferometry with crystalline diffraction gratings, promising comparable sensitivity to LIGO and LISA but with significantly smaller size.

Contribution

It introduces a new design for a matter-wave interferometric gravitational-wave observatory using crystalline diffraction gratings, demonstrating potential for high sensitivity in a compact form.

Findings

MIGO can achieve sensitivity comparable to LIGO and LISA.

MIGO is significantly smaller than existing gravitational-wave detectors.

A specific design using crystalline diffraction gratings is proposed and analyzed.

Abstract

It is shown that atom interferometry allows for the construction of MIGO, the Matter-wave Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory. MIGOs of the same sensitivity as LIGO or LISA are expected to be orders of magnitude smaller than either one. A design for MIGO using crystalline diffraction gratings is introduced, and its sensitivity is calculated.