Gravitational wave detectors from an experimental perspective

Abstract: This chapter introduces the fundamental principles of gravitational wave detectors in a simple and comprehensive manner. Because these instruments aim for extremely high sensitivity, it is essential to understand their various noise sources, how such noise couples to the detector output, and the strategies used to mitigate them. These noises contributions are computed in the frame of the Virgo detector and a sensitivity curve is calculated. Although a simplified layout of a gravitational wave detector is considered, it takes into account the most dominant effects and yields in a sensitivity estimate close to the what is observed in real detectors.