UC Riverside has developed a technology that enables scientists to peer deeper into the universe.
Gravitational-wave science is on the verge of a major step forward, thanks to a new instrumentation breakthrough led by physicist Jonathan Richardson at the University of California, Riverside. In a study published in Optica, researchers describe the creation and successful testing of FROSTI, a full-scale prototype designed to control laser wavefronts at extremely high power inside the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).
LIGO is the facility that first confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime produced by massive accelerating objects such as merging black holes. This discovery provided key evidence in support of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. The observatory relies on two 4-kilometer-long laser interferometers in Washington and Louisiana to capture these faint signals, giving scientists new ways to study black holes, cosmology, and the physics of extreme matter.
At the core of this effort are LIGO’s mirrors, which rank among the most finely engineered optical components in the world. Each mirror is 34 cm across, 20 cm thick, and weighs around 40 kg. They must remain absolutely stable in order to register distortions in spacetime as small as one-thousandth the width of a proton. Even the slightest vibration or environmental noise can obscure the delicate signal of a passing gravitational wave.
“At the heart of our innovation is a novel adaptive optics device designed to precisely reshape the surfaces of LIGO’s main mirrors under laser powers exceeding 1 megawatt — more than a billion times stronger than a typical laser pointer and nearly five times the power LIGO uses today,” said Richardson, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy. “This technology opens a new pathway for the future of gravitational-wave astronomy. It’s a crucial step toward enabling the next generation of detectors like Cosmic Explorer, which will see deeper into the universe than ever before.”
Did someone say FROSTI?
FROSTI, short for FROnt Surface Type Irradiator, is a precision wavefront control system that counteracts distortions caused by intense laser heating in LIGO’s optics. Unlike existing systems, which can only make coarse adjustments, FROSTI uses a sophisticated thermal projection system to make fine-tuned, higher-order corrections. This is crucial for the precision needed in future detectors.
Despite its icy name, FROSTI works by carefully heating the mirror’s surface, but in a way that restores it to its original optical shape. Using thermal radiation, it creates a custom heat pattern that smooths out distortions without introducing excess noise that could mimic gravitational waves.
Why it matters
Gravitational waves were first detected by LIGO in 2015, launching a new era in astronomy. But to fully unlock their potential, future detectors must be able to observe more distant events with greater clarity.
“That means pushing the limits on both laser power and quantum-level precision,” Richardson said. “The problem is, increasing laser power tends to destroy the delicate quantum states we rely on to improve signal clarity. Our new technology solves this tension by making sure the optics remain undistorted, even at megawatt power levels.”
The technology will help expand the gravitational-wave view of the universe by a factor of 10, potentially allowing astronomers to detect millions of black hole and neutron star mergers across the cosmos with unmatched fidelity.
Looking Ahead: LIGO A# and Cosmic Explorer
FROSTI is expected to play a critical role in LIGO A#, a planned upgrade that will serve as a pathfinder for the next-generation observatory known as Cosmic Explorer. While the current prototype was tested on a 40-kg LIGO mirror, the technology is scalable and will eventually be adapted to the 440-kg mirrors envisioned for Cosmic Explorer.
“The current prototype is just the beginning,” Richardson said. “We’re already designing new versions capable of correcting even more complex optical distortions. This is the R&D foundation for the next 20 years of gravitational-wave astronomy.”
Reference: “Demonstration of a next-generation wavefront actuator for gravitational-wave detection” by Aidan Brooks, Shane Levin, Cynthia Liang, Luis Martin Gutierrez, Michael Padilla, Jonathan W. Richardson, Liu Tao, Peter Carney, Aiden Wilkin, Luke Johnson, Huy Tuong Cao, Mohak Bhattacharya, Tyler Rosauer and Xuesi Ma, 19 October 2025, Optica.
DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.567608
Richardson was joined in the research by scientists at UCR, MIT, and Caltech.
The research was funded by a grant to Richardson from the National Science Foundation.
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