| Image | Name | Status | Location | Type of lensing |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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LIGO | The experiment started taking data in August 2001 (first phase). There were several extra phases: in Feb-Apr 2003 (second phase), in Nov-Dec 2003 (third phase), in Feb-Mar 2005 (fourth phase), in November 2005 (fifth phase) and 2009 (sixth phase). | In Washington and Louisiana. | Ground-based (operational) |
|
| Advanced LIGO | Advanced LIGO observations are planned to begin in 2014. | In Washington and Louisiana. | Ground-based (proposed) | ||
|
|
GEO 600 | The project it's been working since 1995. | In the north of Germany, 25 kilometers south from Hannover. | Ground-based (operational) | |
|
|
VIRGO | It was started in 2003 and is still taking data. | In Cascina, close to Pisa, in Italia. | Ground-based (operational) | |
|
|
TAMA 300 | The project started in 1995. | PIt is located close to Tokio, Japan. | Ground-based (operational) | |
|
|
MiniGRAIL | It started in 2001. | Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Leiden University | Ground-based (operational) | |
|
|
Mario Schenberg (Graviton) | Group created in 1991 | Sao Paulo, Brazil. |
Ground-based (operational) | |
| CLIO | It's been working since 2005. | Kamioka mine, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. |
Ground-based (operational) | ||
| SFERA | - |
- |
Ground-based (proposed) | ||
| AIGO | In project |
Near Gingin, north of Perth in Western Australia. | Ground-based (proposed) | ||
|
|
LCGT | In project | Close to Tokio, Japan. | Ground-based (proposed) | |
| Einstein Telescope | In project | Not decided yet. | Ground-based (proposed) | ||
|
INDIGO | In project | Not decided yet. | Ground-based (proposed) | |
| AGIS | In project | - |
Ground-based (proposed) | ||
| Torsion-Bar Antenna | In project | - |
Ground-based (proposed) | ||
|
|
NAUTILUS | It was instal led in 1992. It finished the first phase and took data in 2003. | INFN Frascati National Laboratories | Ground-based (decommissioned) | |
|
EXPLORER | It was installed in 1984 | CERN | Ground-based (decommissioned) | |
|
AURIGA | It worked until 2009 aprox. | Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro - INFN | Ground-based (decommissioned) | |
|
ALLEGRO | They started taking data in 1991.
|
Louisiana | Ground-based (decommissioned) | |
|
NIOBE |
It was established in 1990. | The Australian International Gravitational Research Centre Perth, Australia | Ground-based (decommissioned) | |
|
|
AIGRC |
The project started in 1995 and the facilities are being built. | The facilities are located in GinGin, 80 Km north of Perth, Australia. | Ground-based (decommissioned) | |
|
|
LISA |
LISA start in 2016, after a successful LISA Pathfinder flight and selection in the ESA Cosmic Vision program, which would then enable launch in 2025. | - |
Space-based (planned and proposed) | |
| LISA Pathfinder | To be launched in June 2013. | - |
Space-based (planned and proposed) | ||
| DECIGO | - |
- |
Space-based (planned and proposed) | ||
| Big Bang Observer (BBO) | - |
- |
Space-based (planned and proposed) | ||
 |
European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) |
It's working | The EPTA uses five European telescopes. These are the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, the Effelsberg Radio Telescope, the Lovell Telescope, the Nançay Radio Telescope and the Sardinia Radio Telescope. | Astronomical |
|
| NANOGrav | It's working now. | Green Bank and Arecibo radio telescopes. | Astronomical | ||
| PPTA | It's working now. | - |
Astronomical | ||
| Einstein@Home | It's working now. | - |
Data Analysis |
Link: http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/
Who: National Science Foundation (NSF) de los EEUU.
Where: In Washington and Louisiana.
How: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a facility dedicated to the detection of cosmic gravitational waves and the harnessing of these waves for scientific research. It consists of two widely separated installations within the United States one in Hanford Washington (2 km) and the other in Livingston (4 km), Louisiana operated in unison as a single observatory.
When: The experiment started taking data in August 2001 (first phase). There were several extra phases: in Feb-Apr 2003 (second phase), in Nov-Dec 2003 (third phase), in Feb-Mar 2005 (fourth phase), in November 2005 (fifth phase) and 2009 (sixth phase - Enhanced LIGO).
Link: http://www.geo600.uni-hannover.de/
Who: It is a project of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and astrophysics department at the University of Glasgow.
Where: In the north of Germany, 25 kilometers south from Hannover.
How: The GEO 600 gravitational waves detector, small compared with others, which has two arms of about 600m length. It will compare the data took by the other detectors such as LIGO, VIRGO ... The web page is well built and contains a lot of interesting information.
When: The project it's been working since 1995.
Link: http://wwwcascina.virgo.infn.it/
Who: The VIRGO collaboration was set up between Italian and French research teams
Where: In Cascina, close to Pisa, in Italia.
How: The Virgo detector for gravitational waves consists mainly in a Michelson laser interferometer made of two orthogonal arms being each 3 kilometers long. Multiple reflections between mirrors located at the extremities of each arm extend the effective optical length of each arm up to 120 kilometers. The frequency range of Virgo extends from 10 to 6,000 Hz. This range as well as the very high sensitivity should allow detection of gravitational radiation produced by supernovae and coalescence of binary systems in the milky way and in outer galaxies, for instance from the Virgo cluster.
When: It was started in 2003 and is still taking data.
Link: http://tamago.mtk.nao.ac.jp/
Who: It's a project directed by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, University of Tokio and several institutions and investigation committees.
Where: It is located close to Tokio, Japan.
How: TAMA 300 adopts a Fabry-Perot Michelson Interferometer with recycling of 300 m length. The aim of the project is to develop advanced techniques needed for a future km-sized interferometer and catch gravitational waves that may occur within our local group of galaxies.
When: The project started in 1995.
Link: http://www.minigrail.nl/index.html
Who: Universiteit Twente
Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati
Universidade de Sáo Paulo
Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro
Leiden University
Leidse Instrumentmaker School
Where: Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Leiden University
How: The MiniGRAIL detector is a cryogenic 68 cm diameter spherical gravitational wave antenna.
When: It started in 2001.
Links: http://www.das.inpe.br/graviton/index.html
http://dgp.cnpq.br/buscaoperacional/detalhegrupo.jsp?grupo=0087100JDBPQQV
Who: INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais)
Where: Sao Paulo, Brazil
How: The Mario Schenberg (Gravitational Wave Detector, Antenna, or Brazilian Graviton Project) is a spherical, resonant-mass, gravitational wave detector. Similar to the Dutch-run MiniGRAIL.
When:
Group created in 1991
CLIO
Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLIO
Who: Institute for Cosmic Ray Research of the University of Tokyo.
Where: Kamioka mine, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
How: CLIO is the Cryogenic Laser Interferometer Observatory, a prototype detector for gravitational waves. It is testing cryogenic mirror technologies for the future Large Cryogenic Gravity Telescope (LCGT).
When: It's been working since 2005.
Ground-based (proposed).
Link: http://www.advancedligo.mit.edu/
Who: National Science Foundation (NSF) de los EEUU.
Where: In Washington and Louisiana.
How: The Advanced LIGO project will completely upgrade the three U.S. gravitational wave interferometers, bringing these instruments to sensitivities that should make gravitational wave detections a routine occurrence.
When: Advanced LIGO observations are planned to begin in 2014.
Link: http://www.aigo.org.au/index.php
Who: It is operated by the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre (AIGRC) through the University of Western Australia under the auspices of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA).
Where: Near Gingin, north of Perth in Western Australia.
How: The current aim of the Australian International Gravitational Observatory is to develop advanced techniques for improving the sensitivity of interferometric gravitational wave detectors such as LIGO and VIRGO.
When: In project.
Link: http://gw.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/lcgt/
Who: There are two laboratories working on this experiment: the Pro.KUroda lab. and Aso. Ohashi Pro lab.
Where: Close to Tokio, Japan.
How: It can be said that this project is the continuation of the TAMA-300. The interferometer is being built in a mine, Kamioka mine. This is very well analyzed in the page and have arms of about 100 m in length. Page web devotes much attention to everything related to the project and provides a lot of information.
When: The project started in 2001 and the construction it's finished. It will be working soon.
Link: http://www.et-gw.eu/
Who: European Commission
Where: Not decided yet.
How: Einstein Telescope (ET) is a future third generation gravitational wave detector, currently being designed by different institutions in the European Union. It will be able to test Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity in strong field condition and realize precision gravitational wave astronomy.
When: In project.
Link: http://gw-indigo.org/tiki-index.php?page=Welcome
Who: University of Delhi.
Where: Not decided yet.
How: INDIGO, or IndIGO (INDian Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) is the name colloquially used in the gravitational wave astronomical community for a proposed, large-scale gravitational wave detector in the country of India
When: In project.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Gravitational_Wave_Interferometric_Sensor
Who: -
Where: -
How: An atomic gravitational wave interferometric sensor (AGIS) is a novel detection scheme to detect gravitational waves, proposed by S. Dimopoulos et. al in 2008.
When: -
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsion-Bar_Antenna
Who: -
Where: -
How: A torsion-bar antenna (or TOBA) is a novel scheme for a gravitational wave detector, proposed by M. Ando, et. al in 2010.
When: -
No web found. It seems to be still in project phase. Just a paper talking about the idea - SFERA: the new spherical gravitational wave detector
Link: http://www.roma1.infn.it/rog/nautilus/nautilus.html
http://www.lnf.infn.it/esperimenti/rog/frame_nautilus.htm
Who: INFN
Univ. di Roma "La Sapienza"
Univ. di L'Aquila
LNGS
Where: INFN Frascati National Laboratories
How: NAUTILUS is an ultracryogenic resonant-mass gravitational wave (GW) detector.The antenna NAUTILUS is a cylinder of Al5056, it weights 2300 kg, it is 3 m long and it has a diameter of 60 cm. It is cooled at the temperature of 0.1 K by means of a dilution refrigeration system. Its resonance frequencies are around 908 and 924 Hz, for the two modes respectively.
When: It was instal led in 1992. It finished the first phase and took data in 2003.
Link: http://www.roma1.infn.it/rog/explorer/explorer.html
http://www.lnf.infn.it/esperimenti/rog/frame_explorer.htm
Who: Check collaboration of NAUTILUS
Where: CERN
http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Welcome.html
How: Same characteristics of the last one.
When: It was installed in 1984
Link: http://www.auriga.lnl.infn.it/
Who: INFN
Universidades de:
Ferrara
Padova
Trento
Firenze
Where: Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro - INFN
How: The detector is based on a very low losses ultracryogenic mechanical oscillator: when a burst of gravitational waves hits and excites the oscillator, this will vibrate for a time span much longer than the duration of the burst (typically 1msec), thus allowing the extraction of the signal from the detector noise.
When: It worked until 2009 aprox.
Link: http://sam.phys.lsu.edu/
Who: Louisiana State University
Where: Louisiana
How: It is a cryogenic resonant mass detector with a superconducting inductive transducer and a SQUID amplifier.
When: They started taking data in 1991.
Link: http://www.gravity.pd.uwa.edu.au/
Who:: Institute of High Energy Physics, Beijing
Japanese Large Cryogenic Gravitational Telescope project
Where: The Australian International Gravitational Research Centre Perth, Australia
How: It's similar to the other projects.
When: It was established in 1990.
The last five experiments are part of the IGEC (International Gravitational Event Collaboration)
Link: http://igec.lnl.infn.it/
Link: http://www.gravity.pd.uwa.edu.au/ (AIGRC)
http://www.anu.edu.au/Physics/ACIGA/#inst (ACIGA)
Who: The Australian Internacional Gravitacional Research Centre was by the physics school of University Western Australia (UWA) and it's part of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA).
Where: The facilities are located in GinGin, 80 Km north of Perth, Australia.
How: AIGRC is being devoted to the construction of an interferometer of about 80m that belongs to the Australian International Gravitational Observatory (AIGO). This observatory has a telescope, the Zadka. All links with the information are listed on both pages. Azygos was created to improve operations and collaboration among all laser interferometers dedicated to the detection of gravitational waves, and to transfer data between Research and specify different conferences / seminars.
When: The project started in 1995 and the facilities are being built.
Back to Gravitational Waves.
Link: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=27
Who: NASA and ESA.
How: LISA will be the first dedicated space-based gravitational-wave detector; it will measure gravitational waves by using laser interferometry to monitor the fluctuations in the relative distances between three spacecraft, arranged in an equilateral triangle with 5-million-kilometer arms, and flying along an Earth-like heliocentric orbit.
When: LISA start in 2016, after a successful LISA Pathfinder flight and selection in the ESA Cosmic Vision program, which would then enable launch in 2025.
Link: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=40
How: The aim of the LISA Pathfinder (the revised name for SMART-2) is to test technologies needed for the LISA.
When: To be launched in June 2013.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deci-hertz_Interferometer_Gravitational_wave_Observatory
Who: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
How: The DECi-Hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (or DECIGO) is the proposed Japanese, space-based, gravitational wave observatory. The laser interferometric gravitational wave detector is so named because it is to be most sensitive in the frequency band between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz (a deci-hertz). It was approved in 2010.
When: -
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang_Observer
Who: -
How: The Big Bang Observer (BBO) is a proposed successor to the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The primary scientific goal will be the observation of gravitational waves from the time shortly after the Big Bang, but it will also be able to detect younger sources of gravitational radiation, like binary inspirals.
When: -
Back to Gravitational Waves.
Link: http://www.epta.eu.org/
Who: The European Pulsar Timing Array collaboration consists of members from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities, as well as those at various stages in their researh careers.
Where: The EPTA uses five European telescopes. These are the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, the Effelsberg Radio Telescope, the Lovell Telescope, the Nançay Radio Telescope and the Sardinia Radio Telescope.
How: The European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) is a European collaboration to combine five 100-m class radio-telescopes to observe an array of pulsars with the specific goal of detecting gravitational waves.
When: It's working
Link: http://nanograv.org/
Who: The research activities of NANOGrav are supported by a combination of single-investigator grants awarded through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) in Candada, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement in the USA.
Where: Green Bank and Arecibo radio telescopes.
How: The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) is a consortium of astronomers who share a common goal of detecting gravitational waves via regular observations of an ensemble of millisecond pulsars.
When: It's working now.
Link: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/ppta/
Who: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Where: -
How: The use a timing array as a gravitational wave detector using the Earth as a test mass.
When: It's working now.
Back to Gravitational Waves.
Link: http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/
Who: University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute, Hannover, Germany).
Where: -
How: Einstein@Home is a program that uses your computer's idle time to search for gravitational waves from spinning neutron stars (also called pulsars) using data from the LIGO gravitational wave detector.
When: It's working now.
Back to Gravitational Waves.
Original authors
David Alonso , E-mail: david.alonso@uam.es
Julian Vicente , E-mail: julianvpg@gmail.com
Tue Oct 31 14:45:00 BST 2006
Revision and extensions
Adrián Almazán , E-mail: manueladrian.almazan@estudiante.uam.es
Tue Apr 5 22:17:00 BST 2011
Advisor
Juán García-Bellido , E-mail: juan.garciabellido@uam.es