The LIGO experiment consists of kilometer-scale laser inteferometers at two sites in the U.S., one located in Washington State, and the other in Louisiana. I will discuss the principles of operation of the detectors, which are designed to be sensitive to displacements of order 1/1000 of the proton diameter. I will describe some sources of gravitational waves the experiment might detect, and the data analysis methods under consideration for the search for signals. I will give an update on the progress of the experimental effort, and finally I will discuss some ways of pushing the sensitivity of the detectors still higher.

ANL Physics Division Colloquium Schedule