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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2009

David G. Blair
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Perth
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Summary

This book is about gravitational radiation detectors. It is about experimental physics: the physics of extremely sensitive instruments designed to detect the infinitesimal time varying strains in spacetime which are gravitational waves.

For half a century most physicists considered the detection of gravitational waves to be an impossibility, but 30 years ago Joseph Weber first outlined possible means of detection, and followed this by a lonely pioneering decade of instrument development. About 20 years ago a range of new technologies appeared on the horizon, and we have now seen two decades of advance in a variety of areas, often driven by the needs of gravitational radiation detection. Looked at as a whole these represent a spectacular advance in technological capability, and now it is possible to look forward to a future when gravitational astronomy will plug a major gap in our knowledge of the universe.

The first area of intense effort was in the development of improved resonant bar antennas. This led to the development and understanding of systems and materials with ultralow acoustic loss, and ultralow electromagnetic loss. The development of low loss microwave cavities led to new technologies for vibration transducers and frequency standards. The need for sensitive amplifiers was met by the development of greatly improved superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) and cryogenic gallium arsenide field effect transistor amplifiers. The understanding of quantum mechanical limitations to measurement led to the development of techniques called variously squeezing, quantum nondemolition and back action evasion.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1991

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  • Introduction
  • Edited by David G. Blair, University of Western Australia, Perth
  • Book: The Detection of Gravitational Waves
  • Online publication: 18 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511600104.002
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  • Introduction
  • Edited by David G. Blair, University of Western Australia, Perth
  • Book: The Detection of Gravitational Waves
  • Online publication: 18 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511600104.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by David G. Blair, University of Western Australia, Perth
  • Book: The Detection of Gravitational Waves
  • Online publication: 18 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511600104.002
Available formats
×