Status of the GEO600 gravitational wave detector

The GEO600 laser interferometric gravitational wave detector is approaching the end of its commissioning phase which started in 1995.During a test run in January 2002 the detector was operated for 15 days in a power-recycled michelson configuration. The detector and environmental data which were acquired during this test run were used to test the data analysis code. This paper describes the subsystems of GEO600, the status of the detector by August 2002 and the plans towards the first science run

The status of GEO 600

The GEO 600 laser interferometer with 600m armlength is part of a worldwide network of gravitational wave detectors. GEO 600 is unique in having advanced multiple pendulum suspensions with a monolithic last stage and in employing a signal recycled optical design. This paper describes the recent commissioning of the interferometer and its operation in signal recycled mode

Commissioning, characterization and operation of the dual- recycled GEO 600

The German-British laser-interferometric gravitational-wave detector GEO 600 is currently being commissioned as part of a worldwide network of gravitational-wave detectors. GEO 600 recently became the first kilometre-scale interferometer to employ dual recycling-an optical configuration that combines power recycling and signal recycling. We present a brief overview of the commissioning of this dual-recycled interferometer, the performance results achieved during a subsequent extended data-taking period, and the plans intended to bring GEO 600 to its final configuration