NeutrinoCenter.org | Global: Gravitational Wave Experiments 

List of Gravitational Wave Experiments / Observatories  | impacts:

1. Ground-based laser interferometers (Experiment, Location, Status)

• LIGO Hanford, USA, Active/upgrading

• LIGO Livingston, USA, Active/upgrading 

• Virgo, Italy, Active/upgrading

• KAGRA, Japan, Active/upgrading

• GEO600, Germany, Active / technology testbed

• TAMA300, Japan, Historical / prototype

• CLIO, Japan, Historical / cryogenic prototype

• LIGO-India, India, Under construction; broke ground in April 2026

2. Next-generation ground detectors  (Experiment, Location, Status)

• Einstein Telescope / ET, Europe, Proposed / design phase

• Cosmic Explorer / CE, USA, Proposed / design phase

• NEMO, Australia, Proposed high-frequency detector

• Voyager / LIGO Voyager, USA, Planned LIGO upgrade concept

3. Space-based gravitational wave missions  (Experiment, Location, Status)

• LISA, ESA + NASA, Planned launch in 2035; three spacecraft, 2.5-million-km arms

• LISA Pathfinder, ESA, Completed technology demonstrator

• Taiji, China, Proposed / development

• TianQin, China, Proposed / development

• DECIGO, Japan, Proposed

• B-DECIGO, Japan, Proposed precursor

• ALIA / ASTROD-GW, International concepts, Proposed

4. Pulsar Timing Arrays — nanohertz GW detectors  (Experiment, Location, Status)

• NANOGrav, North America, Active

• EPTA, Europe, Active

• PPTA, Australia, Active

• InPTA, India, Active

• CPTA, China, Active

• MPTA, MeerKAT / South Africa, Active

• APT, Africa, Active/developing

• IPTA, International combined PTA, Active consortium including APT, EPTA, InPTA, NANOGrav, PPTA, and others

5. Resonant-mass / bar detectors  (Experiment, Location, Status)

• Weber Bars, USA, Historical

• ALLEGRO, USA, Historical

• AURIGA, Italy, Historical

• EXPLORER, CERN / Switzerland, Historical

• NAUTILUS, Italy, Historical

• NIOBE, Australia, Historical

6. High-frequency / laboratory GW detector concepts  (Experiment, Location, Status)

• Holometer, Interferometric high-frequency spacetime fluctuation test

• SQuAD / superconducting microwave cavity concepts, High-frequency GW search

• MAGIS-style atom interferometers, Mid-band GW / dark sector concepts

• AION, Atom interferometer GW concept

• AEDGE, Space atom-interferometer concept

• MIGA, Underground atom interferometer / geophysics + GW technology

Most important active network today: LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA, with LIGO-India being added. The next major frequency frontier will be LISA in space and PTAs such as NANOGrav, EPTA, PPTA, InPTA, CPTA, MPTA, and IPTA.