Nicholas Demos is a Postdoctoral Associate at the MIT Kavli Institute and the MIT LIGO Laboratory, where he works on precision measurements and simulations for gravitational-wave detectors. His research focuses on understanding and reducing noise sources that limit the sensitivity of current interferometers such as Advanced LIGO and future observatories such as Cosmic Explorer, concentrating on two in particular: coating thermal noise in high-reflectivity mirrors and Newtonian noise from the local environment around the detector test masses.

For mirror coatings, Nicholas combines tabletop optical experiments with coating-material studies to measure Brownian noise, optical absorption, and birefringence noise. For future observatories, he studies Newtonian-noise mitigation using simulations and analysis tools to evaluate how site conditions, building geometry, recesses or basements near the test masses, and sensor-array strategies can reduce low-frequency noise.

Nicholas received his PhD in Physics from MIT in 2025, where his doctoral research focused on direct measurements of coating thermal noise in gravitational-wave detector mirrors. He earned his BS in Physics from California State University, Fullerton, where he worked on numerical relativity as a member of the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) collaboration.