Time for the last GraWIToN newsletter! I am on a very exciting period on my PhD: my theoretical investigations on new schemes for laser power stabilization had come to an end, and right now I am setting up a new experiment in the lab in which I will use radiation pressure to sense laser power fluctuations. Since I want to measure really small power fluctuations, I will work with a very tiny movable mirror (only 100 um of diameter!!!), which makes this experiment quite challenging. To isolate the cantilever against air fluctuations and vibrations, the experiment will be setup in a vacuum chamber, which I am carefully preparing right now, as you can see on the picture! The design of the experiment is finished and now I am starting to assemble all the components. My plan is to finish assembling the setup until the end of this year, and start doing measurements early next year, where I will be able to tackle noise sources and work on improvements, until end of 2018, when I plan to finish my PhD.

Apart from my thesis work, I have been involved in some teaching activities in my institute, which was quite fun. But the big event for me this year was to go to the Amaldi Conference in Pasadena! It was a special conference because I could learn about so many different works in the field of gravitational waves, not only experimental, but also theoretical, and all by the most expert people on the area. I also had to chance to visit the Caltech campus and listen to an inspiring talk given by Gabriela González!

The training schools from GraWIToN are now over, and we had our last school on the topic of Project Management, which is quite important in our field. This last school happened where we grawitons met for the first time: in Pisa, Italy. Is very hard not to get emotional now, since I had to say goodbye to all this great people that I met and in the end became good friends of mine. Many good memories will stay with me, and I hope to meet them again soon.

I would like to finish my newsletter by saying how great was to be a part of the GraWItoN program and be funded by the Marie Curie fellowship. All the support given by the funding of this position made my move to Germany so easy and it allowed me to setup my experiment with all the necessary components that I need. The position contributed on a singular way to my career, not only for the excellent formation from the schools and training activities, but also for the networking and the opportunities to work outside my host institution.