California, Feb. 16 -- A team of physicists led by Jonathan Richardson of the University of California, Riverside, demonstrated how new optical technology can extend the detection range of gravitational-wave observatories such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, and pave the way for future observatories.

Since 2015, observatories like LIGO have opened a new window on the universe. Plans for future upgrades to the 4-kilometer LIGO detectors and the construction of a next-generation 40-kilometer observatory, Cosmic Explorer, aim to push the gravitational-wave detection horizon to the earliest times in the history of the universe, before the first stars formed. However, realizing these plans hinges on achiev...