Project Grant DEFG5209NA29548

This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Physics, under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), provides $355,683 to California State University, Fullerton Auxiliary Services Corporation from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2025. The award supports research aimed at advancing optical technology to further explore the cosmos using gravitational waves. Key deliverables include characterizing and developing techniques to reduce laser light...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Physics award under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) provides $500,000 to the University of Maryland, College Park to develop techniques for directly measuring the intensity of ultra-high power laser light. The project aims to enable real-time, minimally intrusive measurement of laser focal spot characteristics, a critical capability for advancing high-powered laser research. This includes developing methodologies...

The National Science Foundation's Division of Astronomical Sciences awarded a $586,081 Project Grant to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to develop novel "photonic lanterns" - a key technology for isolating and characterizing exoplanets by suppressing interference from their host stars. The grant supports the advancement of this technology to enable the characterization of hundreds of exoplanets,...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Physics (CFDA 47.049 Mathematical and Physical Sciences) provides $170,165 to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to support the conceptual design of the laser interferometers for the Cosmic Explorer gravitational wave observatory. The key products and services to be delivered under this award include: Producing a parametric conceptual optical design for the Cosmic Explorer interferometers, which will inform...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will provide $139,432 to the University of Central Florida to host a 3-year Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site titled "Unleashing the Light: Building the Future of Laser Technologies". The program will engage 10 undergraduate students per year in 10 weeks of research and educational experiences focused on laser engineering and technologies. Students will work closely with...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Physics, under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), provides $477,375 to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to identify and evaluate potential sites for the Cosmic Explorer (CE), a next-generation gravitational-wave observatory. The award supports research to locate and assess viable locations for the CE facility, which will be substantially larger than the existing LIGO...

This three-year project grant from the National Science Foundation's Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) provides $1,151,085 to Principal Investigator Cleary and California Institute of Technology to complete the Cosmic Mapping Array Pathfinder Survey. The project will use radio telescope line intensity mapping techniques to obtain low-resolution images summing the radio emission from carbon monoxide molecules in many galaxies during the epoch of galaxy assembly between...

This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will fund the University of Maryland, College Park to upgrade its existing 100 terawatt laser system to increase output pulse energy by a factor of four. Totaling $155,249, the award under the NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) will support relativistic physics experiments in plasma, nonlinear optics, and laboratory astrophysics through July 2025. Specifically, the upgraded laser will enable tabletop...

This $240,113 federal Project Grant award, provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), supports research at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to develop an initial conceptual design for mitigating stray light in the interferometer of the Cosmic Explorer gravitational-wave observatory. The project aims to analyze how stray light may limit the observatory's sensitivity and produce a conceptual design for the...

This Project Grant award, provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program, supports research to improve gravitational wave detector technology used by the NSF's Advanced LIGO observatories. The $360,000 award, active from August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2027, focuses on three key areas: (1) investigating solid-state laser cooling to control thermal effects in the interferometers, (2) characterizing low-noise crystalline optical...