DFG Science TV - The Wave Hunters
The video diary "The Wave Hunters - Do Einstein’s gravitational waves rock the universe?" within the project DFG Science TV features the installation of a new technology in the German-British gravitational wave observatory GEO600. Scientists from the Cluster of Excellence QUEST at the Leibniz University Hannover follow the exciting way of the "squeezed light" from the first tests in the laboratory to the installation in the GEO600 detector.
According to Albert Einstein, space-time behaves like an elastic mesh structure. The distortion of this mesh by massive objects, such as stars or planets, is what we refer to as gravitation.
According to Albert Einstein, the fabric of time and space behaves like an elasticated mesh. Heavy masses stretch the mesh, and if they move, the space-time mesh vibrates.
Maximum sensitivity: GEO600. How exactly does the detector work, what challenges does it face, and what are its limits?
Against the quantum nature of light: What do squeezed light and loaded dice have in common? Manipulation in the interest of science...
Out of the lab, over to the USA: A conference in New York brings the wave hunters of the world together. What is accomplished on the trip?
The lenses need to be cleaned to make sure that not a single grain of dust disrupts the laser beam …
The researchers design and build a lot of the components for their experiments using the GEO600 themselves – and they are even developing a remote control system!
A world first at GEO600: The wave hunters will soon become the very first people ever to install squeezed light in a gravity wave detector.
The decisive day has arrived for Henning and Alexander. Will they manage to reduce the light’s random quantum noise further than anyone has ever managed before?
The first direct proof of gravitational waves is within reach, but the goal is gravitational wave astronomy.
