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DOI: 10.1007/s10701-007-9114-z
1. INTRODUCTION
Frame dragging of a satellite in polar orbit induced by the gravitational
eld of a massive rotating body(1) was one of the earliest post-Newtonian
predictions of Einsteins general theory of relativity. More recently one of
us(2) showed that the gravitational eld generated by the electromagnetic
radiation in a ring laser results in the frame dragging precession of a spinning neutral massive particle. The gravitational eld generated by either
a massive rotating body or a circulating light beam has many properties
similar to those of a magnetic eld. One of the most interesting phenomena of classical electrodynamics is the Faraday effect. In this effect, the
plane of polarization of an electromagnetic wave is rotated while traversing a dielectric in the presence of a magnetic eld along the direction of
1
the eld. This suggests that there may be a gravitational Faraday effect
associated with the gravitational eld of a rotating massive body. This was
in fact shown to be the case by Balazs.(3)
In this paper, the Maxwell eld equations are solved for an electromagnetic wave in the presence of the gravitational eld of a ring laser. It is
shown that a gravitational Faraday effect is induced, resulting in the rotation of the plane of polarization of an electromagnetic wave. This gravitational Faraday effect is shown to have similarities to the electromagnetic
Faraday effect. A possible experiment is discussed for the observation of
the gravitational Faraday effect produced by the ring laser.
(1)
(2)
where h is the weak gravitational eld. Using the notation given in Ref.
4 for the covariant Maxwell equations, one nds that the modied elds
in an external gravitational eld are given by
H ij
B ij = + E i g j E j g i and
h
Ei
Di = + g k Hik
h
(3)
(4)
+ H g,
h
H
+ g E,
h
(5)
(6)
where
h=
g00 ,
g0i
gi
,
g00
ij hgi gj gij .
(7)
(8)
(9)
D = 4.
(10)
B = 0.
1 B
+ E = 0.
c t
(11)
(12)
1 D
4
H
=
j.
c t
c
(13)
z
Dx
a
a
x
Dx
Fig. 1.
Setup.
(1) ln
,
(14)
x 2 + y 2 + z2 x
(2)
(3)
(4)
a y + (x a)2 + (y a)2 + z2
,
ln
(x a)2 + y 2 + z2 y
a x + (x a)2 + (y a)2 + z2
,
ln
x 2 + (y a)2 + z2 x
(16)
a y + x 2 + (y a)2 + z2
ln
,
x 2 + y 2 + z2 y
(15)
(1) +
(2) +
(3) +
(4)
(1)
(3)
(2)
(4)
k
(1) +
(3)
0
(1)
(3)
=
(2) +
(4)
(2)
(4)
4
0
0
0
(17)
0
0
(18)
0
0
(1) +
(2) +
(3) +
(4)
(1)
(3)
(2)
(4)
2G
(1) +
(3)
0
(1)
(3)
= 4
(4)
(2)
(4)
(2)
c
0
0
0
h = h = h ,
g = + h .
0
0
,
0
0
(19)
(20)
(21)
This gives
2G
(1) +
(2) +
(3) +
(4) ,
4
c
2G
g= 4
(1)
(3) ex
(2)
(4) ey ,
c
2G
2G
= 1 + 4
(1) +
(3)
1 + 4
(2) +
(4) .
c
c
h=1
(22)
(23)
(24)
(i) 1.
(25)
i
Any combination i
(26)
|gx | , gy 1,
(27)
(28)
= 1.
Using these approximations in Eq. (10) through (13), for light moving
in a vacuum, gives
D = E + H g,
B = H + g E,
1 B
+ E = 0,
c t
B = 0,
D = 0,
1 D
H
= 0.
c t
(29)
(30)
+ D B ( g) (g ) B + (B ) g = 0,
B (D ) g + (g ) D + B ( g)
1 D
c t
= 0.
(31)
(32)
In order to solve Eqs. (31) and (32), we take the following into consideration: First, the incident beam is plane polarized:
D = Dx ex + Dy ey ,
B = Bx ex + By ey .
(33)
(34)
x r
y r c4 r 3
gy
gy
2Gxy
0.
4 3 ,
y r
x r
c r
Therefore, on the vertical through the center of the ring laser,
Ga 2
,
2c4 r 3
(t ) g ty (r) ex + tx (r) ey .
(r)
(36)
(37)
(38)
(39)
By (r) = 0,
c t
z
1 By
Dx
+
+ Bx (r) = 0,
c t
z
By
1 Dx
+ Dy (r)
= 0,
z
c t
Bx
1 Dy
Dx (r)
= 0.
z
c t
(40)
(41)
(42)
(43)
We can remove the time dependence and convert these to ordinary differential equations by making the substitutions
D (z)eit Dx iDy ,
(44)
Bx iBy .
(45)
B (z)e
it
This yields
dD
+ (r)
B = 0,
dz
c
dB
(r)
D = 0.
dz
c
(46)
(47)
We now assume that the gravitational eld from the ring laser will
only slightly modify the plane wave and that this modication varies very
slowly as one moves away or toward the ring laser, that is, to say a pair
of functions,
(z), exist such that
D = d ei [ (z)+ c z] ,
B = b ei [ (z)+ c z] ,
(48)
(49)
d
1.
dz
Substituting these into Eqs. (46) and (47) while neglecting higher-order
terms of d
/dz and gives
d
(r) = 0.
dz
(50)
Integrating this equation yields the result for the modication of the elds
as
z
sgn z
G
.
(51)
(r ) dz = 4
=
1 +
2
c
1 a
1+ 2 z
We now consider the physical implications. Taking the real part of D,
(52)
z t cos
+ ,
Dx = d0 cos
c
Dy = d0 cos
z t sin
+ .
(53)
c
Hence, the angle of polarization will be
Dy
Dx
1
= tan tan
+
= tan1
=
+ .
(54)
(55)
(56)
Thus, we see that the change in the angle of polarization is the previously calculated
+ . Letting the z-direction increase without bound, we
see that the polarization shift of an incident beam due to the ring laser is
the remarkably simple result:
=
2G
.
c4
(57)
This demonstrates the gravitational analog of the Faraday effect produced by a ring laser on an incident, plane polarized light beam. There
exists a particularly important consequence, which closely resembles that
of the classical Faraday effect. Let us now examine the effect of placing
the ray innitely above the ring laser, heading down, the z/c term in the
exponentials in Eqs. (48) and (49) become z/c and the lower integration limit in Eq. (51) changes from to :
D = d ei [ (z) c z] ,
B = b ei [ (z) c z] ,
(59)
d
(r) = 0.
dz
(60)
z
sgn z
G
(r ) dz = 4
1
=
,
2
c
1 a
1+ 2 z
G
sgn z
1
4
2
c
1 + 21 az
+ =
(58)
G
1 sgn z
2 .
c4
1a
1+ 2z
(61)
(62)
(63)
Note that this result is positive-denite, hence regardless of the orientation of the light ray, the polarization changes in the same direction as
the circulation of the ring laser. Allowing the z to decrease without bound
yields the now familiar result
=
2G
.
c4
(64)
Thus, when the beam traverses in the opposite direction, the shift in
polarization angle is the same as above, so if the original incident beam
was reected, we see an amplication of the shift. As a result, allowing
an incident beam to be reected at both ends will produce an amplication of the gravitational Faraday effect. We hope to be able to measure this amplied change of polarization angle by making use of confocal
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
L1
M1
T1
L2
T2
Fig. 4.
L3
LM
TM
M2
Analyzer
5. CONCLUSION
This paper has shown that the gravitational eld produced by the circulating light beam of a ring laser results in the rotation of the plane
of polarization of an electromagnetic wave. A laboratory arrangement has
been suggested that should allow the experimental verication of the predicted ring laser-gravitational Faraday effect. In this way, a novel opticalgravitational means of demonstrating general relativistic frame dragging
will have been achieved.
REFERENCES
1. I. Ciufolini and J. A. Wheeler, Gravitation and Inertia (Princeton University Press,
Princeton, 1995).
2. R. L. Mallett, Weak gravitational eld of the electromagnetic radiation in a ring laser,
Phys. Lett. A 269, 214217 (2000).
3. N. L. Balazs, Effect of a gravitational eld, due to a rotating body, on the plane of
polarization of an electromagnetic wave, Phys. Rev. 11(1), 236239 (1958).
4. L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, The Classical Theory of Fields (fourth revised English
edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington, 2000).
5. N. Stelmakh, J. Lopez, O. Smolski, and C. Roychoudhuri, 100W 50ps gain switched
pulses from vertical- stack laser diode, Electron. Lett. 36(12), 10221024 (2000).