About to cross the bridge from Europe to North America. It is the place where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet in Iceland.

The suspension goes into the chamber. I am the one holding the insertion arm on the right. This is a dangerous device, as its folds are effectively massive "scissors" ready to cut fingers or worse, so it has to be kept under control all the time. Video credit: Maryrose barrios. @ LIGO - Livingston

To get the suspension on the insertion arm, we first needed to remove its hanging fixture to transfer the latter to the arm. That required bringing in a new lift. After testing we could transfer the suspension, we lowered it on a scale to weigh it. Video Credit Maryrose Barrios. @ LIGO - Livingston

Once we had the suspension on the lift, it had to make its way into the interferometer. This meant leaving the optics lab, entering the Large Vacuum Equipment Area and traveling along the tail end of the x and y axis of the interferometer . Photo credit: Maryrose Barrios. @ LIGO - Livingston

The suspension was built in a clean room of the optics lab. It had to be transported to the interferometer. As it weighs close to 90kg we used a Genie lift with a special fixture we built. Here is the pickup moment. I am the one manning the crank. Video credit: Maryrose Barrios. @ LIGO - Livingston

The suspension we spent last semester building was transferred to the interferometer. Here the "insertion team" posing in front of the chamber with the suspension in it. In the next few days I will post videos of the process. @ LIGO - Livingston

We installed the "elevator" that will be used to lift the suspension we spent the last semester building (it weighs close to 200 pounds). @ LIGO - Livingston

Yesterday marked 10 years since LSU Boyd Professor Gabriela González served as spokesperson for the 1,000+ member LIGO Scientific Collaboration to announce the first direct detection of gravitational waves.
Watch: www.youtube.com/live/aEPIwEJ...
#GeauxScience

We removed the dome of the beam splitter chamber, revealing the active isolation system (ISI, green arrow) and a worker covering it with C3 fabric. @ LIGO - Livingston

Coco and the turtles enjoying the sun.

We removed the door on the HAM3 chamber to characterize the position of the beam splitter using the FARO laser tracker. You can see the red dot of the laser on the beam splitter cage. @ LIGO - Livingston

On the roof, we get a good view of the Y arm and, to the right of it, the 300 m filter cavity enclosure. @ LIGO - Livingston

Built the BHSS installation tool. @LIGO Livingston.

Louisiana space observatory dodges federal science budget cuts: 'A great relief' Scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), tucked away in the piney woods of Livingston Parish, feared their operation detecting black holes would be shuttered after...

www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...

We finished building the test stand ("white elephant") in the vertex today. Here we are checking the level with the FARO laser tracker. @LIGO - Livingston

We replaced a bent leg (red arrow) on the clean room on top of the beam splitter. That required installing a temporary leg (green arrow) to free up the overhead crane which had been holding the pressure off the leg. @LIGO - Livingston

The bigger beam splitter makes its way into the vertex for installation. @ LIGO - Livingston

Finished the Louisiana Quarter Marathon in 1h51m.

We returned the quad suspension we had tested on a ride in a truck back into its test stand. This requiring transferring from a Genie to and Alum-a-lift (one was too wide for the room, the other too high for the can the quad was stored in). @ LIGO - Livingston

We had to disassemble the stand ("white elephant") on which the bigger beam splitter was built and rebuild it near the interferometer to prep the BS for installation. This required leveling the feet. The faint red glow you see on the top of each is the laser level. @LIGO Livingston.

The bigger beam splitter suspension goes in the can to be transported to the vertex to be installed in the interferometer next week. @LIGO - Livingston

Moving a clean room over BSC2. @ LIGO - Livingston

Rainy Christmas eve in Córdoba, Argentina.

HAM6 is now empty, ready for the upgrade in January. @ LIGO - Livingston

We built a "teflon highway" to drag the output mode cleaner suspension out of HAM6 onto a stand for transporting it (it weighs around 45 kilos). @ LIGO - Livingston

The output mode cleaner is out of HAM6. @ LIGO - Livingston

Removing the optical elements from HAM6 in preparation for the installation in January of the new suspension we just finished building. @ LIGO - Livingston

The suspension construction is nearing its end. We will apply the final touches in January. @ LIGO - Livingston

Passed my forklift operator test today. @LIGO - Livingston

We created optical paths to feed the laser into the output mode cleaners. The collapsible mirror (green arrow) allows us to send the light to the mode cleaner on the left or the one on the right. @LIGO - Livingston