Description:
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A network of second-generation low-temperature gravitational radiation detectors is nearing completion. These detectors, sensitive to mechanical strains of order 10
<jats:sup>-18</jats:sup>
, are possible because of a variety of technical innovations that have been made in cryogenics, low-noise superconducting instrumentation, and vibration isolation techniques. Another five orders of magnitude improvement in energy sensitivity of resonant-mass detectors is possible before the linear amplifier quantum limit is encountered.
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