Peter Fritschel

Peter K Fritschel is an American physicist and scientist. He is a Senior Research Scientist in the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at M.I.T. He is currently Chief Detector Scientist for LIGO - the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory, where he was instrumental in the construction and development of the detector from the very beginning.

Education

Fritschel received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, in 1984. In 1992, he earned his Ph.D. in physics from M.I.T. (Dissertation - Techniques for Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Detectors with Rainer Weiss.)

Career

Fritschel's research has focused on the design and development of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors, using extraordinarily sensitive, multi-kilometer baseline interferometers. The detectors use innovative precision measurement techniques, such as combining Fabry-Perot and Michelson interferometers, light recycling, and squeezed vacuum injection, to achieve sub-attometer position sensitivity. In the last two years, these detectors have opened the gravitational-wave window on the universe, making transformational discoveries of gravitational waves emitted from the mergers of several binary black hole systems, and from the merger of two neutron stars.

Research Areas and Instrumentation

• Cosmology
• Strong Gravity & Gravitational Radiation
• Supernovae, Neutron Stars & Black Holes
• Gravitational Wave Detection
• Radio Astronomy
• LIGO
• Quantum Measurements

Recognition

Fritschel is a recipient of the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics and is a Fellow of OSA (The Optical Society) and the American Physical Society. 

In 2018, he received OSA's Charles Hard Townes Medal for advances in quantum mechanically limited precision measurements in the Advanced LIGO detectors, which led to the first direct observation of gravitational waves. 

He was also awarded the 2018 Lancelot M. Berkeley – New York Community Trust Prize for his "leadership role in the development of the Advanced LIGO detectors, which have opened a new window on the universe."