Searching for gravitational waves: Professor Sheila Rowan
Issued: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 12:58:00 BST
Professor Sheila Rowan is director of the Institute for Gravitational Research.
‘We are involved with a mixture of experimental research and astrophysics; what we’re looking for are gravitational waves,’ she explains.
‘We work across a wide range of research areas, from the laboratory-scale developments and prototyping of individual parts of the instrumentation, right through to installing them in observatories, then capturing and analysing the data – and students typically get the opportunity to experience research bridging these areas.’
Professor Rowan is interested in optical materials in particular and is studying materials suitable for use in super-sensitive mirrors. These mirrors are a fundamental part of the huge kilometre-scale observatories that are designed to detect gravitational waves.
‘These observatories are based on a technique called interferometry. You fire a laser beam down a tunnel, which is anywhere between a few hundred metres and four kilometres long. This beam is then split into two using something called a beam splitter, the two light beams then bounce off separate mirrors and recombine at the beam splitter, where we measure the difference between how far each beam has travelled.
‘Huge astronomical events out in the Universe such as supernovae, merging neutron stars or black holes should cause tiny movements of the mirrors in these observatories, which we can sense. However, to detect this movement, the mirrors need to be made out of highly specialised materials, such as fused silica or high-purity silicon samples, which help to minimise noise in the detectors.’
The team at Glasgow collaborates with a number of universities and institutes around the world, working on a wide range of research topics.
‘We have a great setup for research students here. Not only do we provide them with the opportunity to work within almost any aspect of gravitational-wave research, but because of our excellent collaborative links, there are also frequently options to travel abroad to study,’ says Professor Rowan.
‘Students can expect to work in an environment where there is a mix of opportunities involving formal training, entrepreneurial skills, international linkages and industrial experience.’
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