The GEO-HF project

The GEO 600 gravitational wave detector uses advanced technologies including signal recycling and monolithic fused-silica suspensions to achieve a sensitivity close to the kilometre scale LIGO and VIRGO detectors. As soon as the design sensitivity of GEO 600 is reached, the detector will be operated as part of the worldwide network to acquire data of scientific interest. The limited infrastructure at the GEO site does not allow for a major upgrade of the detector. Hence the GEO collaboration decided to improve the sensitivity of the GEO detector by small sequential upgrades some of which will be tested in prototypes first. The development, test and installation of these upgrades are named 'The GEO-HF Project.' This paper describes the upgrades considered in the GEO-HF project as well as their scientific reasons. We will describe the changes in the GEO 600 infrastructure and the prototype work that is planned to support these upgrades. Finally, we will point to some laboratory research that identifies new technologies or optical configurations that might undergo a transition into detector subsystems within the GEO-HF project. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.