The Sagnac effect and the chirality of space time

R. M. Kiehn

doi:10.1117/12.738322

31 August 2007 The Sagnac effect and the chirality of space time

R. M. Kiehn

Proceedings Volume 6664, The Nature of Light: What Are Photons?; 66640L (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.738322
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2007, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

It is known from measurements of beat frequencies of beam pairs extracted from single mode dual polarized ring lasers that the optical cavity can support four different phase velocities depending on left or right polarization and on clockwise or anticlockwise direction of travel. The topological theory of singular solutions to Maxwell's equations has demonstrated that these four modes are due to different Spinor pairs. Moreover, the theory demonstrates that the Lorentz Vacuum and the Chiral Vacuum can be formally indistinguishable, except for the impedance of free space (which can related to the determinant of a dynamic constitutive tensor and therefore to the chiral polarization and expansion coefficients involving Optical Activity and Faraday rotation). It is suggested that modifications of the dual polarized Sagnac ring laser with its resonance Q of 10⁺¹⁸ might permit the experimental detection of any chiral properties of space-time induced by intransitive motions (those with fixed points of rotation and expansion) that are not induced by transitive motions (translations).

Citation Download Citation

R. M. Kiehn "The Sagnac effect and the chirality of space time", Proc. SPIE 6664, The Nature of Light: What Are Photons?, 66640L (31 August 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.738322

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