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arXiv · 1808.08653

Gravitational waves and the Sagnac effect

Jörg Frauendiener
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Abstract

Light propagating in opposite directions around the same loop in general shows a relative phase shift when recombined. This phenomenon is known as the Sagnac effect after Georges Sagnac who, in 1913, demonstrated with an interferometer on a rotating table that the phase shift depended on the angular velocity of the table. In previous work we have given a very general formula for the Sagnac effect, valid in full general relativity. The relativistic effect not only contains the `classical' contribution from the rotation of the laboratory but also contributions due its acceleration and due to incoming gravitational waves. Here, we point out a major consequence of this gravitational effect which may have implications for third generation gravitational wave detectors. We describe an `antenna' design which picks out specific components of the Weyl tensor describing the incident gravitational waves.

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Jörg Frauendiener. 2018-08-27. Gravitational waves and the Sagnac effect. https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.08653

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