报告题目：Gravitational Wave Detectors: A pinnacle in Optical Science and Engineering
报告人：David Blair, Winthrop Professor at School of Physics, University of Western Australia
报告时间：11月19日下午2:00
报告地点：浙江大学玉泉校区教三440会议室
联系人：刘东 135-7578-8748
摘要：
Long baseline advanced gravitational wave detectors represent the state of the art in optical and mechanical engineering, and are the most sensitive optomechanical instruments ever created. In 2015 the Advanced LIGO detectors began operating at a sensitivity sufficient to detect predicted gravitational wave events from the distant universe for the first time. These 4km instruments operate near to the quantum limits of sensitivity, and yet they have the opportunity of substantial improvement through advanced optical engineering and quantum optics.
This talk will review the status of gravitational wave detection, and will present ideas for future detectors that will take gravitational wave astronomy from exciting beginnings to an essential astronomical tool capable of monitoring the dynamical behaviour of spacetime arising from extreme events such as the birth of black holes across the universe. Plans for Australia-China collaboration in this field, and opportunities for student exchange recently funded by the Australian government, will be discussed, along with opportunities for exciting student exchange projects.
报告人简介：
David Blair is Winthrop Professor at School of Physics, University of Western Australia. His main research area is in gravitational waves and their detection. He developed the first southern hemisphere gravitational wave bar detector NIOBE, and the Sapphire Clock. In 1998 he led the development of a 50km2 site at Gingin, near Perth, Western Australia, for a proposed southern hemisphere laser interferometer gravitational wave detector. The Australian International Gravitational Research Centre at Gingin includes an 80m high optical power laser interferometer and the 1m Zadko Robotic Telescope used for multi-messenger astronomy and gamma ray burst follow-up.
The Gingin Centre is part of Australia’s contribution to the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, an international collaboration in gravitational wave detection that includes more than 1000 physicists.
Blair is the funding member of the Gravity Discovery Centre, which is a major public outreach centre for teaching Einsteinian Physics to schools and the general public. He leads the Science Education Enrichment Project and the Einstein-First education projects. This is a collaboration focused on developing Einsteinian physics for the school curriculum.
Blair has strong international collaborations with many countries. He also has strong links with China and was convenor of the KITPC Program “The Next Detectors for Gravitational Wave Astronomy” in 2015.
In 2013 Blair was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society. In 2007 he won the Western Australian Scientist of the Year Award. In 2005, he was awarded the ANZAAS Medal as well as a WA Government Centre of Excellence Grant to develop the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre. In 2004 he won the Learning Links award of the Minister for Education and Training. He was awarded the 2003 National Medal for Community Service, the 2003 Centenary Medal for Promotion of Science and the 2003 Clunies Ross National Medal for Science and Technology. In 1995 Blair was awarded the Walter Boas Medal of the Australian Institute of Physics.
