TY - JOUR
T1 - Detecting continuous gravitational waves with superfluid 4He
AU - Singh, S.
AU - Lorenzo, L. A.De
AU - Pikovski, I.
AU - Schwab, K. C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.
PY - 2017/7
Y1 - 2017/7
N2 - Direct detection of gravitational waves is opening a new window onto our universe. Here, we study the sensitivity to continuous-wave strain fields of a kg-scale optomechanical system formed by the acoustic motion of superfluid helium-4 parametrically coupled to a superconducting microwave cavity. This narrowband detection scheme can operate at very high Q-factors, while the resonant frequency is tunable through pressurization of the helium in the 0.1-1.5 kHz range. The detector can therefore be tuned to a variety of astrophysical sources and can remain sensitive to a particular source over a long period of time. For thermal noise limited sensitivity, we find that strain fields on the order of are detectable. Measuring such strains is possible by implementing state of the art microwave transducer technology. We show that the proposed system can compete with interferometric detectors and potentially surpass the gravitational strain limits set by them for certain pulsar sources within a few months of integration time.
AB - Direct detection of gravitational waves is opening a new window onto our universe. Here, we study the sensitivity to continuous-wave strain fields of a kg-scale optomechanical system formed by the acoustic motion of superfluid helium-4 parametrically coupled to a superconducting microwave cavity. This narrowband detection scheme can operate at very high Q-factors, while the resonant frequency is tunable through pressurization of the helium in the 0.1-1.5 kHz range. The detector can therefore be tuned to a variety of astrophysical sources and can remain sensitive to a particular source over a long period of time. For thermal noise limited sensitivity, we find that strain fields on the order of are detectable. Measuring such strains is possible by implementing state of the art microwave transducer technology. We show that the proposed system can compete with interferometric detectors and potentially surpass the gravitational strain limits set by them for certain pulsar sources within a few months of integration time.
KW - gravitational waves
KW - optomechanics
KW - superfluid helium
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U2 - 10.1088/1367-2630/aa78cb
DO - 10.1088/1367-2630/aa78cb
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85026804617
SN - 1367-2630
VL - 19
JO - New Journal of Physics
JF - New Journal of Physics
IS - 7
M1 - 073023
ER -