Nobel-winning gravitational wave detectors to get major upgrade

The upgraded facility, known as Advanced LIGO Plus (ALIGO+), will probe the origins and evolution of black holes and help scientists learn about extreme physics from the first seconds after the universe's birth.

The project will improve the two existing Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatories (LIGO) in the United States, and will see a new facility built in India.

The Nobel-prize winning LIGO project confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, a component of Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Gravitational waves are ripples in space caused by massive cosmic events such as the collision of black holes or the explosion of supernovae. They are not electromagnetic radiation, and as a result were undetectable until the technological breakthroughs at LIGO enabled in part by UK technology.

At each LIGO site, twin laser beams are transmitted down two 4-kilometre long tubes kept under a near-perfect vacuum, and arranged as an L-shape. The beams are reflected back down the tubes by mirrors precisely positioned at the ends of each arm.