A step towards the Analysis of the Influence of an electrical Field on the Propagation of Light

TL;DR

This paper reports initial experimental efforts to investigate how electric fields might influence the refractive index of light, inspired by gravitational effects, suggesting potential electromagnetic impact on light propagation.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental test exploring electric field effects on light's refractive index, a topic rarely addressed in existing literature.

Findings

Possible evidence of electric field influence on refractive index

Results are inconclusive and require higher precision measurements

Encourages further research with improved methods

Abstract

It is a matter of common knowledge that the field of gravitation influences the propagation of light, but the question to which extent electromagnetic fields do something similar is not completely answered. The birefringence caused by electric and magnetic fields is subject of several articles in Quantumelectrodynamics, but the absolute refractive index is discussed rather rarely. Some hypothetical considerations about the feasibility of an experiment to analyze the refractive index in electromagnetic fields were given in a former article by the same author. A first experimental test is reported now. Perhaps an evidence for an influence of an electric field on the refractive index was found, but the result is not reliable enough to claim already, that the influence was seen - but it should encourage to perform further measurements with different methods of higher precision.