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Commentary

Nature Photonics 2, 582–585 (1 October 2008) | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.186

Chasing gravitational waves

David Reitze

Measuring gravitational waves — tiny, fleeting strains in space–time that are expected to be on the scale of 1 part in 1021 or smaller — is no easy task. However, over the past five years the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO, see Fig.