High-Frequency Gravitational Wave Constraints from Precision Spectroscopy
arXiv:2607.12617
The authors use precision laser spectroscopy to search for high‑frequency gravitational waves by detecting frequency modulations of photons in optical cavities, setting new limits in the 100 kHz–100 MHz band.
Abstract
Gravitational waves affect the propagation of electromagnetic waves in laser cavities, modulating the frequency of emitted photons. We use this effect to search for high-frequency gravitational waves between 100 kHz and 100 MHz using optical precision spectroscopy. Our limits constrain much of this frequency range for the first time. We discuss future improvements of the technique, which we expect to enhance the sensitivity by eight orders of magnitude, and to extend the frequency coverage up to at least 1 GHz.
10 pages, 3 figures; codes available at https://github.com/koppj/hf-gw-spectroscopy-public