Polarimetric searches for axion dark matter and high-frequency gravitational waves using optical cavities
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866916566684139520 |
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| author | García-Cely, Camilo Marsili, Luca Ringwald, Andreas Spector, Aaron D. |
| author_facet | García-Cely, Camilo Marsili, Luca Ringwald, Andreas Spector, Aaron D. |
| contents | We revisit birefringence effects associated with the evolution of the polarization of light as it propagates through axion dark matter or the background of a passing gravitational wave (GW). We demonstrate that this can be described by a unified formalism, highlighting a synergy between searches for axions and high-frequency GWs. We show that by exploiting this framework, the optical cavities used by the ALPS II experiment can potentially probe axion masses in the range $m_a \sim 10^{-9} - 10^{-6} \, \mathrm{eV}$, offering competitive sensitivity with existing laboratory and astrophysical searches. Also building on this approach, we propose using these optical cavities to search for high-frequency GWs by measuring changes in the polarization of their laser. This makes it a promising method for exploring, in the near future, GWs with frequencies above $100$ MHz and strain sensitivities on the order of $10^{-14} \, \mathrm{Hz}^{-1/2}$. Such sensitivity allows the exploration of currently unconstrained parameter space, complementing other high-frequency GW experiments. This work contributes to the growing community investigating novel approaches for high-frequency GW detection. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_08382 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Polarimetric searches for axion dark matter and high-frequency gravitational waves using optical cavities García-Cely, Camilo Marsili, Luca Ringwald, Andreas Spector, Aaron D. High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Experiment We revisit birefringence effects associated with the evolution of the polarization of light as it propagates through axion dark matter or the background of a passing gravitational wave (GW). We demonstrate that this can be described by a unified formalism, highlighting a synergy between searches for axions and high-frequency GWs. We show that by exploiting this framework, the optical cavities used by the ALPS II experiment can potentially probe axion masses in the range $m_a \sim 10^{-9} - 10^{-6} \, \mathrm{eV}$, offering competitive sensitivity with existing laboratory and astrophysical searches. Also building on this approach, we propose using these optical cavities to search for high-frequency GWs by measuring changes in the polarization of their laser. This makes it a promising method for exploring, in the near future, GWs with frequencies above $100$ MHz and strain sensitivities on the order of $10^{-14} \, \mathrm{Hz}^{-1/2}$. Such sensitivity allows the exploration of currently unconstrained parameter space, complementing other high-frequency GW experiments. This work contributes to the growing community investigating novel approaches for high-frequency GW detection. |
| title | Polarimetric searches for axion dark matter and high-frequency gravitational waves using optical cavities |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Experiment |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.08382 |