Weakly gravitating isotropic waveguides

TL;DR

This paper investigates how weak gravitational fields influence light propagation in cylindrical waveguides, revealing small shifts in wave vectors and the emergence of new modes that could be experimentally detectable.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of gravitational effects on waveguide modes, including derivation of wave vector dependence and mode creation due to spooling.

Findings

Gravitational fields cause measurable shifts in wave vector.

Spooling introduces additional propagating modes.

Potential for future experimental detection of gravitational effects.

Abstract

We analyse the effect of post-Newtonian gravitational fields on propagation of light in a cylindrical waveguide in both a straight configuration and a spool configuration. We derive an equation for the dependence of the wave vector upon the vertical location of the waveguide. It is shown that the gravitational field produces a small shift in the wave vector, which we determine, while the spooling creates additional modes which could perhaps be measurable in future accurate experiments.