Jonathan Richardson, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at UCR, has received a grant of $450,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop high-precision, low-noise laser wavefront control capabilities for LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory based at sites in Louisiana and Washington. Such capabilities are needed to improve LIGO’s sensitivity, enabling higher precision observations of more distant events.

LIGO detects gravitational waves — distortions in the fabric of space — using detectors that employ high-power laser beams, offering a new way to observe the universe. Its discoveries address questions about the nature of black holes, cosmology, and the densest states of matter in the universe.

Richardson explained that the LIGO detectors suffer from noise arising from the fundamental quantum nature of the laser light, whose presence limits the detectors’ astrophysical reach. 

“The funding addresses what is currently the limiting barrier to achieving higher quantum-limited sensitivity in the detectors: thermal distortions of the optics at megawatt laser power,” he said. “It will help train our students in STEM areas and ensure that gravitational-wave science continues to inspire them to fulfill their potential as future leaders in research.”

Prior to joining UCR, Richardson served as a LIGO Laboratory postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology from 2017-21.