International Summer Research Program in Gravitational-Wave Physics:
Research Experiences for Undergraduates around the world


PROPOSED PROJECTS, 2014. Students please indicate your preference when applying.

This list will continue to be updated as proposed projects come in (last updated 09/17/13). Here is a description of some proposed projects and below are potential other projects which might be possible over the next few years:

EGO - Virgo site, Cascina

University of Glasgow

Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Albert Einstein Institute Hannover

INFN and Università degli Studi "Federico II", Napoli

INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica - Università di Perugia

Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Tokyo

Australian National University, Canberra

University of Sannio in Benevento, Italy

AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Université Paris 7 - Denis Diderot

Cardiff University

INFN and Università di Pisa

University of Birmingham

University of Adelaide

INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica - Università di Trento

Seoul National University - KGWG member

Nikef Gravitational Wave Group, Amsterdam

LAL (Laboratoire de l'Accelerateur Lineaire), Orsay

University of Melbourne, Australia



POTENTIAL FUTURE PROJECTS.
Indicate if there is a project here which interests you.


University of Glasgow
  • Measurement of the thermal conductivity, linear expansion coefficient, and Youngs modulus of ion-beam-sputtered coatings of the type suitable for use in mirror coatings in interferometric gravitational wave detectors.
  • Design and construction of a feedback system to stabilize the amplitude of a high power carbon dioxide laser system used to produce shaped silica fibers and ribbons.
University of Birmingham
  • Interference of Gaussian laser beams:
    Using an FFT-propagation and a Hermite-Gauss simulation code to construct and analyse the interference pattern in an interferometer.
  • Optical cavity alignment:
    Analysis of the alteration of an optical lengths measurement due to angular fluctuations of the optical components.
University of Western Australia, Gingin site
  • High power lasers:
    Characterization of the laser beam quality of high power lasers as a function of output power and measure frequency stablity as a function of acoustic noise.
  • Thermal lensing:
    Measure thermal lensing by gaussian beam parameter measurements at various optical power levels in multiple optical components.
  • Parametric Instability:
    Characterize parametric instabilities in a small scale test rig and then participate in instability experiments at the main Gingin interferometer. Collect and analyze parametric gain as a function of optical power for a single acoustic mode and compare the result with theoretical predictions.
  • Facility studies:
    Wind induces seismic noise through forces on buidlings and trees. Collect wind speed and seismic noise data from existing sensors and determine the wind-seismic noise transfer fucntion for different wind directions.
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, TAMA 300 site
  • TAMA300-interferometer:
    Characterization and commissioning activities at Japan's 300m gravitational wave detector.
  • Displacement-free interferometer development.
  • Resonant sideband extraction in a suspended interferometer.
  • MHz-band gravitational wave detector.
  • DECIGO:
    A space-based gravitational wave antenna to measure the gravitational wave background radiation and also signals between the LIGO and LISA bands.
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, GEO-600 Detector
  • Auxiliary channel monitoring to veto gravitational wave signals:
    A significant fraction of the transient events in the gravitational wave channel are caused by transient events in other channels. A student could study the coupling between the various channels and generate Vetos for transient signals in the gravitational wave channel.
  • Stationarity of the detector response:
    The main output of GEO600 is calibrated using a quasi-continous time-domain scheme. This provides calibration information about every second. A student could study the stationarity of the calibration on shorter time scales.
  • Control system for GEO-HF:
    Many degrees of freedom in GEO need active control. A student could work on sensor and actuator development and design digital control systems.
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Albert Einstein Institute, Hannover
  • Reciprocity of optical path length in an optical fiber:
    The two lasers on each LISA spacecraft are compared with each other using a back-link fiber. The sensitivity of LISA will depend on the reciprocity of the optical pathlength in this fiber. A student could join an ongoing experiment at the AEI and participate in this experiment.
  • Improve low frequency squeezing experiment:
    Squeezing will be used in futire gravitational wave detectors to manipulate the detector response to quantum fluctuations of the laser field. One student could increase and characterize different squeezing techniques.
Laser Zentrum Hannover
  • Fiber amplifiers for third generation gravitational wave detectors:
    The next generation of gravitational detectors will require significantly increased output power compared to the current, advanced detectors. Fiber amplifiers are very promising candidates to reach this goal. He or she will setup single-frequency fiber amplifiers and characterize them concerning their suitability for the use in interferometric Gravitational wave detectors.
    Mentor: Peter Wessels (LZH)


Past IREU Projects
Other Prior Projects