Stringent requirements for detecting light-induced gravitational effects using interferometry

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the feasibility of detecting light-induced gravitational effects via interferometry, revealing that current and future laser technologies face significant challenges due to stringent detection requirements.

Contribution

It introduces a detection scheme based on interferometry and assesses the feasibility of observing light-induced gravitational effects with realistic laser setups.

Findings

Detection of light-induced gravitational effects is highly challenging.

Quantum sensitivity bounds impose strict requirements for measurement.

Current laser infrastructure is insufficient for observing these effects.

Abstract

Intense laser fields have been proposed as a means to generate light-induced gravitational effects, providing a novel approach to investigate gravity and its coupling to electromagnetism in a controlled laboratory setting. In this article, a detection scheme based on interferometry is introduced to assess the feasibility of observing such effects. Initially, the space-time deformation and the resulting induced phase difference are evaluated in homogeneous electric fields. Using the theoretical minimum phase sensitivity bound -- a known result in quantum information -- and accounting for background signal coming from photon-photon scattering -- a fundamental quantum electrodynamics effect related to vacuum properties -- a set of stringent requirements for detectability is obtained. Then, a more realistic scenario is considered where gravitational effects are generated by an e-dipole pulse. In all cases considered, it is demonstrated that observing these effects presents significant challenges, even with the capabilities of current and foreseen laser infrastructures.