Page 4 - Demo

What the rst sound movie meant for the silent lm era has now happened for astronomy. In February, researchers announced the detection of gravitational waves, whose existence Albert Einstein predicted 100 years ago in the framework of his general theory of relativity. Gore’s technology is part of this discovery, which opens up a new glance into the universe.
Since 2002, the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) in Italy has used GORE® High Flex Planar Cables to search for gravitational waves. The ePTFE-insulated cables—for use in ultra-high vacuum applications—are highly exible and reduce the seismic noise that can hinder the detection of gravitational waves.
Application Engineer Peter Proeckl, Pleinfeld, initially developed the cables for the semiconductor industry, especially for use in lithography: “Deployed in an ultra-high vacuum environment, cables usually emit gases that can condense and contaminate the highly sensitive measuring instruments,” he explains. “But due to the speci c characteristics of our ePTFE-insulated cables, the outgassing rate is very low.”
Field sales Associate Andrea Zampieri, Verona, adds, “That’s why our cables were EGO’s rst choice for their gravitational wave detector Virgo and later, in 2013, for its successor called Advanced Virgo.” Other observatories followed suit, with the U.S. Laser Interferometer Gravitation Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Germany GEO 600 also using Gore’s cables, while KAGRA in Japan is currently evaluating them.
In September, the two main observatories in the United States and Italy detected signals caused by the collision of two black holes—both 30 times the mass of the sun—happening 1.3 billion light years away. “It then took four months to validate them,” says product specialist Marcus Stollberg, Pleinfeld. “By proving the waves to be real and not caused by ground-based seismic waves, scientists will have a new tool for probing the secrets of the universe. Our products are part
of this achievement.”
4 GORE LATTICE . APRIL 2016
Detecting Gravitational Waves
with Gore