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


PROPOSED PROJECTS, 2023. Students please indicate your preference when applying.

This list will continue to be updated as proposed projects come in (currently being updated as of 12/26/22). Here is a description of some proposed projects and below are potential other projects which might be possible over the next few years:



University of Glasgow, Scotland

University of Padova, Italy

University of Adelaide, Australia

UCLouvain, Belgium

University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Italy

Cardiff University, Wales

Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Albert Einstein Institute Hannover, Germany

University of Birmingham, England

INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica - Università di Trento, Italy

AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Université Paris 7 - Denis Diderot, France

INFN and Università di Pisa, Italy

Nikhef Gravitational Wave Group, Amsterdam, Netherlands

EGO - Virgo site, Cascina, Italy

Seoul National University - KGWG member, South Korea

University of Sannio in Benevento, Italy

LAL (Laboratoire de l'Accelerateur Lineaire), Orsay, France

University of Melbourne, Australia

Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Sorbonne Université, France





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
  • What goes bang in the night (or day)?
    Build astrophysical models of merging neutron star and black hole binaries with population synthesis techniques.
  • What do short gamma ray bursts tell us about gravitational-wave sources?
    Use existing observations of short gamma ray bursts from neutron-star binary mergers to predict the rate and distribution of gravitational-wave signals.
  • Interference of Gaussian laser beams:
    Use 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.
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