Squeezing the best science out of laser interferometers:  Gravitational wave detection from mHz to kHz

Gravitational wave science has made the leap from the textbooks to the headlines over the last 5 years as LIGO and Virgo followed up the first detections with an avalanche of exciting discoveries. The future remains bright with a third generation of ground-based detectors like Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer in the planning stages, and the space-based detector LISA marching towards a planned launch in 2034. I will summarize the current state-of-the-art of the ground-based observatories and the planned upgrades, and discuss progress towards LISA’s mission goals. I’ll then take a detour to discuss some of the more novel ways that gravitational wave detectors are adapted to reach their unprecedented sensitivities, including the use of squeezed vacuum fields to reduce the quantum measurement uncertainty. Finally, I’ll give an overview of the ways in which my research group at UF is helping to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with laser interferometry.