Quantum mechanics and general relativity are the foundational pillars of modern physics, yet experimental tests that combine the two frameworks remain rare. Measuring optical phase shifts of massless photons in a gravitational potential provides a unique quantum platform to probe gravity beyond Newtonian descriptions, but laboratory-based interferometers have not yet reached the sensitivity needed to access this regime. Here, we report the realization of a 50-km table-top Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometer operating at the single-photon level, achieving a phase sensitivity of 4.42×10^{-6}  rad  rms within the frequency range of 0.01-5 Hz. We demonstrate that this sensitivity is sufficient to resolve a phase-shift signal of 6.18(44)×10^{-5}  rad  rms at 0.1 Hz, associated with a modulated gravity-induced signal. Our results establish a milestone for quantum sensing with large-scale optical interferometry, demonstrating the capability to detect gravitational redshifts in a local laboratory, thereby paving the way for testing quantum phenomena within general relativistic frameworks.

We have developed a compact, modular source of squeezed light consisting of free-space optical elements residing on a custom-built optics board. The footprint of the device's optics board is roughly 45 cm by 45 cm and it is controlled by a custom electronics box with a similar footprint. The device generates up to 6.5 dB of measured quantum noise reduction below the shot noise level. We anticipate that it will facilitate the development of future quantum optics experiments.

Quantum metrology seeks to leverage the richness of quantum systems for making better measurements than are possible using only classical resources in order to gain a “quantum advantage”. Quantum metrology schemes must also be resilient against noise to be useful in practice. Simultaneously achieving quantum advantage and noise resilience requires an end-to-end analysis of quantum measurement schemes to assess their theoretical sensitivity, feasibility, and noise robustness. We demonstrate this approach through the development of a novel optical interferometer based on squeezed vacuum light. We propose a scheme that relies on a nonlinear phase estimation procedure, which allows us to shift the frequency of noise away from the signal band, resulting in a high degree of noise resilience. This enables us to achieve sensitivity with Heisenberg scaling in the lossless limit and sensitivity below the standard quantum limit (SQL) in practice. It also enables the first experimental demonstration of quantum-optimal Bayesian signal estimation in a balanced interferometer. We expect this end-to-end design approach to enable the development of a variety of useful quantum measurement protocols going forward.

We detail the achievement of the fundamental quantum interferometry limit. We present the theory of such a scheme and demonstrate it experimentally with phase-locked squeezed light, double homodyne readout, and the optimal phase estimator.

In this contribution, we describe the status of our experiment aimed at measuring the gravitationally induced phase shift on path-entangled photons. We use a kilometer-scale fiber interferometer whose arms are vertically displaced in the Earth gravitational potential, allowing photons propagating at different heights to accumulate different phases. To date, this is the first experiment to measure this effect on massless particles, thereby experimentally combining general relativity and quantum mechanics.

We present an experiment to reach the fundamental quantum limit of interferometry. We outline the theory and demonstrate it experimentally with phase-locked squeezed light, double homodyne readout, and an optimal phase estimator.

We present Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (Fermi-GBM) and Swift Burst Alert Telescope (Swift-BAT) searches for gamma-ray/X-ray counterparts to gravitational wave (GW) candidate events identified during the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. Using Fermi-GBM on-board triggers and sub-threshold gamma-ray burst (GRB) candidates found in the Fermi-GBM ground analyses, the Targeted Search and the Untargeted Search, we investigate whether there are any coincident GRBs associated with the GWs. We also search the Swift-BAT rate data around the GW times to determine whether a GRB counterpart is present. No counterparts are found. Using both the Fermi-GBM Targeted Search and the Swift-BAT search, we calculate flux upper limits and present joint upper limits on the gamma-ray luminosity of each GW. Given these limits, we constrain theoretical models for the emission of gamma-rays from binary black hole mergers.

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass $M>70$ $M_\odot$) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities $0 < e \leq 0.3$ at $0.33$ Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$ at 90\% confidence level.

Gravitational time dilation, a prediction of General Relativity, lacks confirmation alongside quantum mechanics. Our experiment aims to measure gravitationally induced phase shift of path-entangled photons between two vertically displaced arms of a fiber interferometer.

Magnetars are neutron stars with exceptionally strong dipole magnetic fields which are observed to display a range of x-ray flaring behavior, but the flaring mechanism is not well understood. The third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo extended from April 1, 2019 to March 27, 2020, and contained x-ray flares from known magnetar SGR 1935+2154, as well as the newly-discovered magnetar, Swift J1818-1607. We search for gravitational waves coincident with these magnetar flares with minimally modeled, coherent searches which specifically target both short-duration gravitational waves produced by excited f-modes in the magnetar's core, as well as long-duration gravitational waves motivated by the Quasi-Periodic Oscillations observed in the tails of giant flares. In this paper, we report on the methods and sensitivity estimates of these searches, and the astrophysical implications.

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions to gravitational wave (GW) signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by (1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, (2) calculating the degree of overlap among the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, (3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms among pairs of signals, and (4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by (1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and (2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the nondetection of GW lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects.

The second Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog reported on 39 compact binary coalescences observed by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors between 1 April 2019 15:00 UTC and 1 October 2019 15:00 UTC. We present GWTC-2.1, which reports on a deeper list of candidate events observed over the same period. We analyze the final version of the strain data over this period with improved calibration and better subtraction of excess noise, which has been publicly released. We employ three matched-filter search pipelines for candidate identification, and estimate the astrophysical probability for each candidate event. While GWTC-2 used a false alarm rate threshold of 2 per year, we include in GWTC-2.1, 1201 candidates that pass a false alarm rate threshold of 2 per day. We calculate the source properties of a subset of 44 high-significance candidates that have an astrophysical probability greater than 0.5. Of these candidates, 36 have been reported in GWTC-2. If the 8 additional high-significance candidates presented here are astrophysical, the mass range of events that are unambiguously identified as binary black holes (both objects $\geq 3M_\odot$) is increased compared to GWTC-2, with total masses from $\sim 14 M_\odot$ for GW190924_021846 to $\sim 182 M_\odot$ for GW190426_190642. The primary components of two new candidate events (GW190403_051519 and GW190426_190642) fall in the mass gap predicted by pair instability supernova theory. We also expand the population of binaries with significantly asymmetric mass ratios reported in GWTC-2 by an additional two events (the mass ratio is less than $0.65$ and $0.44$ at $90\%$ probability for GW190403_051519 and GW190917_114630 respectively), and find that 2 of the 8 new events have effective inspiral spins $\chi_\mathrm{eff} > 0$ (at $90\%$ credibility), while no binary is consistent with $\chi_\mathrm{eff} < 0$ at the same significance.

State-of-the-art optical oscillators employing cryogenic reference cavities are limited in performance by the Brownian thermal noise associated with the mechanical dissipation of the mirror coatings. Recently, crystalline Al$_{1-x}$Ga$_{x}$As/GaAs coatings have emerged as a promising candidate for improved coating thermal noise. We present measurements of the frequency noise of two fully crystalline cryogenic reference cavities with Al$_{0.92}$Ga$_{0.08}$As/GaAs optical coatings. We report on previously unmeasured birefringent noise associated with anti-correlated frequency fluctuations between the polarization modes of the crystalline coatings, and identify variables that affect its magnitude. Comparing the birefringent noise between the two cryogenic reference cavities reveals a phenomenological set of scalings with intracavity power and mode area. We implement an interrogation scheme that cancels this noise by simultaneous probing of both polarization modes. The residual noise remaining after this cancellation is larger than both cavities thermal noise limits, but still lower than the instabilities previously measured on equivalent resonators with dielectric coatings. Though the source of these novel noise mechanisms is unclear, we demonstrate that crystalline coatings can provide stability and sensitivity competitive with resonators employing dielectric coatings.

We search for gravitational-wave (GW) transients associated with fast radio bursts (FRBs) detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst Project, during the first part of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 April 1 15:00 UTC–2019 October 1 15:00 UTC). Triggers from 22 FRBs were analyzed with a search that targets both binary neutron star (BNS) and neutron star–black hole (NSBH) mergers. A targeted search for generic GW transients was conducted on 40 FRBs. We find no significant evidence for a GW association in either search. Given the large uncertainties in the distances of our FRB sample, we are unable to exclude the possibility of a GW association. Assessing the volumetric event rates of both FRB and binary mergers, an association is limited to 15% of the FRB population for BNS mergers or 1% for NSBH mergers. We report 90% confidence lower bounds on the distance to each FRB for a range of GW progenitor models and set upper limits on the energy emitted through GWs for a range of emission scenarios. We find values of order 10 51 –10 57 erg for models with central GW frequencies in the range 70–3560 Hz. At the sensitivity of this search, we find these limits to be above the predicted GW emissions for the models considered. We also find no significant coincident detection of GWs with the repeater, FRB 20200120E, which is the closest known extragalactic FRB.

Thermodynamically induced length fluctuations of high-reflectivity mirror coatings put a fundamental limit on sensitivity and stability of precision optical interferometers like gravitational wave detectors and ultra-stable lasers. The main contribution - Brownian thermal noise - is related to the mechanical loss of the coating material. Owing to their low mechanical losses, Al\textsubscript{0.92}Ga\textsubscript{0.08}As/GaAs crystalline mirror coatings are expected to reduce this limit. At room temperature they have demonstrated lower Brownian thermal noise than with conventional amorphous coatings. %However, no detailed study on the noise constituents from these coatings in optical interferometers has been conducted. We present a detailed study on the spatial and temporal noise properties of such coatings by using them in two independent cryogenic silicon optical Fabry-Perot resonators operated at 4 K, 16 K and 124 K. We confirm the expected low Brownian thermal noise, but also discover two new noise sources that exceed the Brownian noise: birefringent noise that can be canceled via polarization averaging and global excess noise (10 dB above Brownian noise). These new noise contributions are a barrier to improving ultra-stable lasers and the related performance of atomic clocks, and potentially limit the sensitivity of third-generation gravitational wave detectors. Hence, they must be considered carefully in precision interferometry experiments using similar coatings based on semiconductor materials.

We present a search for dark photon dark matter that could couple to gravitational-wave interferometers using data from Advanced LIGO and Virgo's third observing run. To perform this analysis, we use two methods, one based on cross-correlation of the strain channels in the two nearly aligned LIGO detectors, and one that looks for excess power in the strain channels of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. The excess power method optimizes the Fourier Transform coherence time as a function of frequency, to account for the expected signal width due to Doppler modulations. We do not find any evidence of dark photon dark matter with a mass between $m_{\rm A} \sim 10^{-14}-10^{-11}$ eV/$c^2$, which corresponds to frequencies between 10-2000 Hz, and therefore provide upper limits on the square of the minimum coupling of dark photons to baryons, i.e. $U(1)_{\rm B}$ dark matter. For the cross-correlation method, the best median constraint on the squared coupling is $\sim2.65\times10^{-46}$ at $m_{\rm A}\sim4.31\times10^{-13}$ eV/$c^2$; for the other analysis, the best constraint is $\sim 2.4\times 10^{-47}$ at $m_{\rm A}\sim 5.7\times 10^{-13}$ eV/$c^2$. These limits improve upon those obtained in direct dark matter detection experiments by a factor of $\sim100$ for $m_{\rm A}\sim [2-4]\times 10^{-13}$ eV/$c^2$, and are, in absolute terms, the most stringent constraint so far in a large mass range $m_A\sim$ $2\times 10^{-13}-8\times 10^{-12}$ eV/$c^2$.

We present directed searches for continuous gravitational waves from the neutron stars in the Cassiopeia A (Cas A) and Vela Jr. supernova remnants. We carry out the searches in the LIGO data from the first six months of the third Advanced LIGO and Virgo observing run, using the Weave semi-coherent method, which sums matched-filter detection-statistic values over many time segments spanning the observation period. No gravitational wave signal is detected in the search band of 20--976 Hz for assumed source ages greater than 300 years for Cas A and greater than 700 years for Vela Jr. Estimates from simulated continuous wave signals indicate we achieve the most sensitive results to date across the explored parameter space volume, probing to strain magnitudes as low as ~$6.3\times10^{-26}$ for Cas A and ~$5.6\times10^{-26}$ for Vela Jr. at frequencies near 166 Hz at 95% efficiency.

SummaryWe present a technique to stabilize laser frequency to an average of different cavity modes via Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) scheme. This technique was applied to eliminate the laser frequency instability arising from fluctuation of the birefringence in Al 0.92 Ga 0.08 As/GaAs crystalline mirror coatings by locking to the average frequency of orthogonally polarized cavity modes.

We present the first results from an all-sky all-frequency (ASAF) search for an anisotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background using the data from the first three observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. Upper limit maps on broadband anisotropies of a persistent stochastic background were published for all observing runs of the LIGO-Virgo detectors. However, a broadband analysis is likely to miss narrowband signals as the signal-to-noise ratio of a narrowband signal can be significantly reduced when combined with detector output from other frequencies. Data folding and the computationally efficient analysis pipeline, {\tt PyStoch}, enable us to perform the radiometer map-making at every frequency bin. We perform the search at 3072 {\tt{HEALPix}} equal area pixels uniformly tiling the sky and in every frequency bin of width $1/32$~Hz in the range $20-1726$~Hz, except for bins that are likely to contain instrumental artefacts and hence are notched. We do not find any statistically significant evidence for the existence of narrowband gravitational-wave signals in the analyzed frequency bins. Therefore, we place $95\%$ confidence upper limits on the gravitational-wave strain for each pixel-frequency pair, the limits are in the range $(0.030 - 9.6) \times10^{-24}$. In addition, we outline a method to identify candidate pixel-frequency pairs that could be followed up by a more sensitive (and potentially computationally expensive) search, e.g., a matched-filtering-based analysis, to look for fainter nearly monochromatic coherent signals. The ASAF analysis is inherently independent of models describing any spectral or spatial distribution of power. We demonstrate that the ASAF results can be appropriately combined over frequencies and sky directions to successfully recover the broadband directional and isotropic results.

We present results of an all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves which can be produced by spinning neutron stars with an asymmetry around their rotation axis, using data from the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. Four different analysis methods are used to search in a gravitational-wave frequency band from 10 to 2048 Hz and a first frequency derivative from $-10^{-8}$ to $10^{-9}$ Hz/s. No statistically-significant periodic gravitational-wave signal is observed by any of the four searches. As a result, upper limits on the gravitational-wave strain amplitude $h_0$ are calculated. The best upper limits are obtained in the frequency range of 100 to 200 Hz and they are ${\sim}1.1\times10^{-25}$ at 95\% confidence-level. The minimum upper limit of $1.10\times10^{-25}$ is achieved at a frequency 111.5 Hz. We also place constraints on the rates and abundances of nearby planetary- and asteroid-mass primordial black holes that could give rise to continuous gravitational-wave signals.