BIREFRINGENCE MIRROR CURVATURE Ambroise Juston, Aerospace Engineering
MENTORS Ellie Gretarsson, Physics and Astronomy Andri Gretarsson , Physics and Astronomy
Gravitational waves have opened new frontiers in astronomy by enabling the detection of black holes and neutron star mergers. However, the materials used in making high-quality, low-noise mirrors for optical chains have proven to be a barrier to achieving better sensitivity to gravitational waves. This project’s goal is to characterize the birefringence and curvature of high-quality crystal mirrors for use in a future generation of mirrors in gravitational wave observatories. Gravitational wave observatories such as LIGO rely on the extreme precision of mechanical systems and complex optical chains to observe the minute effects that gravitational waves have on light. This project collects experimental data on the mirrors using infrared lasers to characterize their properties in real time. The system is controlled in LabVIEW and processed in MATLAB to provide reliable and precise data across a wide sample. SPACE GRANT AWARD
46 | URI DISCOVERY 2026
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