Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has
built three multi-kilometer interferometers designed to search for gravitational waves. LIGO Scientific Collaboration recently completed a year-long science run at the design sensitivity, and is currently commissioning the next phase of the experiment, the Enhanced LIGO. I will review the current status of LIGO and some of the most recent results obtained using LIGO data. I will also describe efforts being undertaken at the Homestake mine toward designing the third generation of gravitational-wave detectors.