Come funziona un interferometro e cosa accade quando passa un'onda gravitazionale?
Come funziona un interferometro e cosa accade quando passa un'onda gravitazionale?
I rivelatori interferometrici operano secondo il principio che un'onda gravitazionale allunga e contrae lo spazio-tempo facendo variare, al suo passaggio, la distanza tra due masse fisse.
How does LIGO's interferometer compare to other interferometers?
- The size and added complexity of LIGO's interferometers are far beyond anything the world's first interferometers could have achieved. The first most obvious difference between a typical Michelson interferometer and LIGO's interferometers is its scale. With arms 4km (2.5 mi.) long, LIGO's interferometers are by far the largest ever built.
How does LIGO work?
- LIGO - A Gravitational-Wave Interferometer. LIGO currently consists of two interferometers, each with two 4 km (2.5 mile) long arms arranged in the shape of an “L”. These instruments act as 'antennae' to detect gravitational waves. In the links below, you will learn much more about interferometers and how LIGO actually works.
What is the largest laser interferometer ever made?
- LIGO's laser interferometers are by far the largest ever built. With arms 4 km (2.5 mi.) long, LIGO's interferometers are 360 times larger than the one used in the Michelson-Morley experiment (that interferometer had 11 m (33 ft.) long arms).
What are interferometers used to measure?
- Because of their wide application, interferometers come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are used to measure everything from the smallest variations on the surface of a microscopic organism, to the structure of enormous expanses of gas and dust in the distant Universe, and now, to detect gravitational waves.
