Rotational superconducting gravitational wave detectors based on Cooper-pair electronic transducers

We report here on experimental and theoretical developments of a new method for gravitational wave (GW) detection. It's principal steps are: 1) conversion of the GW action into rotational motion and 2) conversion of the rotational motion into an electric current. The ability to detect extremely tiny currents via superconducting electronics empowers this approach. Preliminary experiments confirm the theoretical expectations and suggest that gravitational waves far beyond the reach of LIGO can be detected. We came to the conclusion that very efficient all-solid-state detectors may be achieved utilizing Cooper pairs as transducers. The advantage of superconductivity is in the exponential reduction of noise, which will require relatively low, operating temperatures. Besides superior sensitivity, the devices will have very moderate, meter-range sizes, which will make it possible to place them on orbital platforms and orient so as to maximize the signal from selected sources. As our room-temperature experiments have demonstrated, having duplicate detectors or duplicate elements in one detector, in close vicinity to each other, yields effective suppression of the seismic noise, as well as the stray field pick-up, thus achieving sensitivity close to the theoretical limits.