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How do scientists use the LIGO detectors to detect gravitational waves?

Ashlyn Raffles

Well, I'm not a scientist, but I find the LIGO detectors absolutely fascinating. In case you're not familiar with them, LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory - quite a mouthful, huh? Basically, these detectors are a big deal because they allow us to detect gravitational waves.

So, how exactly do scientists use the LIGO detectors to do this? Well, it's a pretty complex process. First of all, these detectors are incredibly sensitive - we're talking about being able to detect movements smaller than a proton. That's seriously impressive.

The detectors themselves are made up of two long tunnels - each one is 4 kilometers long, which is crazy to think about. Inside these tunnels, there are laser beams that are split into two and sent down the tunnels. At the end of each tunnel, the beams are reflected back and then recombine with the other beam. When there aren't any gravitational waves, the beams cancel each other out and you get what's called 'destructive interference'.

But when a gravitational wave passes through the detectors, it causes the length of the tunnels to change ever-so-slightly. This means the laser beams arrive at different times, which causes them to interfere with each other in a different way - this time creating 'constructive interference'. And that's how scientists know a gravitational wave has been detected!

Of course, there's a lot more to it than just that. For example, scientists also use multiple detectors - not just the two LIGO detectors - in order to confirm that they're actually picking up gravitational waves and not just some kind of random noise.

The thing that really amazes me about the LIGO detectors is how they've opened up a whole new way of observing the universe. Before, we could only see things that give off light - things like stars and galaxies. But now, with these detectors, we can 'hear' the universe in a whole new way. It's truly mind-boggling to think about what we might discover next!

All in all, I'll admit that I don't completely understand all the science behind the LIGO detectors and how they detect gravitational waves. But I do know that they're a pretty amazing feat of engineering and technology - and I can't wait to see what scientists discover with them in the years to come!