arXiv subjects

Carlo Rizzo

Publications and source records attributed to Carlo Rizzo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

The optical analogy between a Lorentz-violating cosmos and a Magneto-Electric medium

The goal of our study is to investigate the effects of Lorentz symmetry violation by examining the behavior of photons within the framework of the Standard Model Extension (SME). We show that, from an optical point of view, the Lorentz-violating cosmos is analogous to a Magneto-Electric medium like the quantum vacuum in the presence of the magnetic and electric field. This analogy provides a formulation for exploring experimental evidence of Lorentz symmetry violation in the propagation of light in a vacuum, in particular in the case of a radiation background observed like the CMB.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

On the speed of light in a vacuum in the presence of a magnetic field

The nature of light, the existence of magnetism, the physical meaning of a vacuum are problems so deeply related to philosophy that they have been discussed for thousands of years. In this paper, we concentrate ourselves on a question that concerns the three of them: does light speed in a vacuum change when a magnetic field is present? The experimental answer to this fundamental question has not yet been given even if it has been stated in modern terms for more than a century. To fully understand the importance of such a question in physics, we review the main facts and concepts from the historical point of view.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2018

High magnetic fields for fundamental physics

Various fundamental-physics experiments such as measurement of the birefringence of the vacuum, searches for ultralight dark matter (e.g., axions), and precision spectroscopy of complex systems (including exotic atoms containing antimatter constituents) are enabled by high-field magnets. We give an overview of current and future experiments and discuss the state-of-the-art DC- and pulsed-magnet technologies and prospects for future developments.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Pulsed high magnetic field measurement via a Rubidium vapor sensor

We present a new technique to measure pulsed magnetic fields based on the use of Rubidium in gas phase as a metrological standard. We have therefore developed an instrument based on laser inducing transitions at about 780~nm (D2 line) in a Rubidium gas contained in a mini-cell of 3~mm~x~3~mm cross section. To be able to insert such a cell in a standard high field pulsed magnet we have realized a fibred probe kept at a fixed temperature. Transition frequencies for both the $π$ (light polarization parallel to the magnetic field) and $σ$ (light polarization perpendicular to the magnetic field) configurations are measured by a commercial wavemeter. One innovation of our sensor is that in addition of monitoring the light transmitted by the Rb cell, which is usual, we also monitor the fluorescence emission of the gas sample from a very small volume with the advantage of reducing the impact of the field inhomogeneity on the field measurement. Our sensor has been tested up to about 58~T.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2015

Four-level N-scheme crossover resonances in Rb saturation spectroscopy in magnetic fields

We perform saturated absorption spectroscopy on the D$\_2$ line for room temperature rubidium atoms immersed in magnetic fields within the 0.05-0.13 T range. At those medium-high field values the hyperfine structure in the excited state is broken by the Zeeman effect, while in the ground state hyperfine structure and Zeeman shifts are comparable. The observed spectra are composed by a large number of absorption lines. We identify them as saturated absorptions on two-level systems, on three-level systems in a V configuration and on four-level systems in a N or double-N configuration where two optical transitions not sharing a common level are coupled by spontaneous emission decays. We analyze the intensity of all those transitions within a unified simple theoretical model. We concentrate our attention on the double-N crossovers signals whose intensity is very large because of the symmetry in the branching ratios of the four levels. We point out that these structures, present in all alkali atoms at medium-high magnetic fields, have interesting properties for electromagnetically induced transparency and slow light applications.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2015

Circular and linear magnetic birefringences in xenon at $λ= 1064$ nm

The circular and linear magnetic birefringences corresponding to the Faraday and the Cotton-Mouton effects, respectively, have been measured in xenon at $λ= 1064$ nm. The experimental setup is based on time dependent magnetic fields and a high finesse Fabry-Perot cavity. Our value of the Faraday effect is the first measurement at this wavelength. It is compared to theoretical predictions. Our uncertainty of a few percent yields an agreement at better than 1$σ$ with the computational estimate when relativistic effects are taken into account. Concerning the Cotton-Mouton effect, our measurement, the second ever published at $λ= 1064$ nm, agrees at better than $1σ$ with theoretical predictions. We also compare our error budget with those established for other experimental published values.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Faraday and Cotton-Mouton Effects of Helium at $λ= 1064$ nm

We present measurements of the Faraday and the Cotton-Mouton effects of helium gas at $λ=~1064$\,nm. Our apparatus is based on an up-to-date resonant optical cavity coupled to longitudinal and transverse magnetic fields. This cavity increases the signal to be measured by more than a factor of 270\,000 compared to the one acquired after a single path of light in the magnetic field region. We have reached a precision of a few percent both for Faraday effect and Cotton-Mouton effect. Our measurements give for the first time the experimental value of the Faraday effect at $λ$=\,1064\,nm. This value is compatible with the theoretical prediction. Concerning Cotton-Mouton effect, our measurement is the second reported experimental value at this wavelength, and the first to agree at better than 1$σ$ with theoretical predictions.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2012

Magnetic and electric properties of quantum vacuum

In this report we show that vacuum is a nonlinear optical medium and we discuss what are the optical phenomena that should exist in the framework of the standard model of particle physics. We pay special attention to the low energy limit. The predicted effects for photons of energy smaller than the electron rest mass are of such a level that none has been observed experimentally yet. Progresses in field sources and related techniques seem to indicate that in few years vacuum nonlinear optics will be accessible to human investigation.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2011

Magnetic Linear Birefringence Measurements Using Pulsed Fields

In this paper we present the realization of further steps towards the measurement of the magnetic birefringence of the vacuum using pulsed fields. After describing our experiment, we report the calibration of our apparatus using nitrogen gas and we discuss the precision of our measurement giving a detailed error budget. Our best present vacuum upper limit is Dn < 5.0x10^(-20) T^-2 per 4 ms acquisition time. We finally discuss the improvements necessary to reach our final goal.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2011

Observation of the Inverse Cotton-Mouton Effect

We report the observation of the Inverse Cotton-Mouton Effect (ICME) i.e. a magnetization induced in a medium by non resonant linearly polarized light propagating in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. We present a detailed study of the ICME in a TGG crystal showing the dependence of the measured effect on the light intensity, the optical polarization, and on the external magnetic field. We derive a relation between the Cotton-Mouton and Inverse Cotton-Mouton effects that is roughly in agreement with existing experimental data. Our results open the way to applications of the ICME in optical devices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2010

A Photon Regeneration Experiment for Axionlike Particle Search using X-rays

In this letter we describe our novel photon regeneration experiment for the axionlike particle search using a x-ray beam with a photon energy of 50.2 keV and 90.7 keV, two superconducting magnets of 3 T, and a Ge detector with a high quantum efficiency. A counting rate of regenerated photons compatible with zero has been measured. The corresponding limits on the pseudoscalar axionlike particle-two photon coupling constant is obtained as a function of the particle mass. Our setup widens the energy window of purely terrestrial experiments devoted to the axionlike particle search by coupling to two photons. It also opens a new domain of experimental investigation of photon propagation in magnetic fields.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2010

Quantum Vacuum influence on the evolution of Pulsars

In this letter we show that Quantum Vacuum Friction (QVF) should play an important role in neutron star evolution. Taking into account this effect we show that magnetars could be understood as a natural evolution of standard pulsars. For the Crab pulsar, of which the characteristic age is known, we present the first completely coherent time evolution for its period and braking index. For this pulsar we also give the predicted value of the current first derivative of the braking index, providing a very important test to confirm QVF.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

Dynamical behaviour of birefringent Fabry-Perot cavities

In this paper we present a theoretical and experimental study of the dynamical behaviour of birefringent cavities. Our experimental data show that usual hypothesis which provides that a Fabry-Perot cavity is a first-order low pass filter cannot explain the behaviour of a birefringent cavity. We explain this phenomenon, and give the theoretical expression of the equivalent cavity filter which corresponds to a second-order low pass filter.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2010

Status of the BMV experiment

In this contribution we present the status of the BMV experiment whose goal is to measure the vacuum magnetic birefringence.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2009

Birefringence of interferential mirrors at normal incidence Experimental and computational study

In this paper we present a review of the existing data on interferential mirror birefringence. We also report new measurements of two sets of mirrors that confirm that mirror phase retardation per reflection decreases when mirror reflectivity increases. We finally developed a computational code to calculate the expected phase retardation per reflection as a function of the total number of layers constituting the mirror. Different cases have been studied and we have compared computational results with the trend of the experimental data. Our study indicates that the origin of the mirror intrinsic birefringence can be ascribed to the reflecting layers close to the substrate.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2008

Search for photon oscillations into massive particles

In this paper, we present the final results of our experiment on photon-axion oscillations in the presence of a magnetic field, which took place at LULI (Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, Palaiseau, France). Our null measurement allowed us to exclude the existence of axions with inverse coupling constant $M>9.\times 10^5$ GeV for low axion masses and to improve the preceding BFRT limits by a factor 3 or more for axion masses $1.1 {meV} <m_a<2.6 {meV}$. We also show that our experimental results improve the existing limits on the parameters of a low mass hidden-sector boson usually dubbed "paraphoton" because of its similarity with the usual photon.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2008

Quantum Vacuum Friction in Highly Magnetized Neutron Stars

In this letter we calculate the energy loss of highly magnetized neutron star due to friction with quantum vacuum, namely Quantum Vacuum Friction (QVF). Taking into account one-loop corrections in the effective Heisenberg-Euler Lagrangian of the light-light interaction, we derive an analytic expression for QVF allowing us to consider magnetic field at the surface of the star as high as $10^{11} $T. In the case of magnetars with high magnetic field above the QED critical field, we show that the energy loss by QVF dominates the energy loss process. This has important consequences, in particular on the inferred value of the magnetic field. This also indicates the need for independent measurements of magnetic field, energy loss rate, and of the braking index to fully characterize magnetars.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

No light shining through a wall : new results from a photoregeneration experiment

Recently, axion-like particle search has received renewed interest. In particular, several groups have started ``light shining through a wall'' experiments based on magnetic field and laser both continuous, which is very demanding in terms of detector background. We present here the 2$σ$ limits obtained so far with our novel set-up consisting of a pulsed magnetic field and a pulsed laser. In particular, we have found that the axion-like particle two photons inverse coupling constant $M$ is $> 8\times 10^5$ GeV provided that the particle mass $m_\mathrm{a} \sim$ 1 meV. Our results definitively invalidate the axion interpretation of the original PVLAS optical measurements with a confidence level greater than 99.9%.

hep-ex↗