Spectrally enhanced gravitational redshift signals in photonic interferometry
Abstract
Quantum mechanics and general relativity are remarkably successful, yet their joint predictions remain beyond direct experimental reach. Photonic interferometers operating in a gravitational field offer a promising route to test this regime: gravitational redshift differentiates photon propagation between vertically separated arms, leading to a predicted phase shift and reduction in interference visibility. These effects are minute on laboratory scales, motivating existing proposals to consider large interferometer areas to accumulate them geometrically. Indeed, such schemes typically require kilometre-scale optical paths to produce appreciable interferometric signals. Here, we propose a strategy that replaces geometric accumulation with spectral enhancement by coupling the two interferometer arms to optical scatterers based on ultranarrow atomic transitions. These transitions serve as local spectral references: gravitational redshift changes the photon's detuning from each resonance, producing large differences in reflection amplitude and hence substantial visibility loss and interferometric phase shift already for centimetre-scale height differences. We quantify the experimental requirements and assess the feasibility of implementation with current or near-term technology. Our proposal thus opens a route to tabletop optical tests of the interplay between quantum mechanics and general relativity.
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BibTeX
@misc{paczos2026spectrally,
title = {{Spectrally enhanced gravitational redshift signals in photonic interferometry}},
author = {Jerzy Paczos and Piotr T. Grochowski and Natalia Bruno and Emanuele Distante and Stephan Welte and Magdalena Zych},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.18131},
eprint = {2610.18131},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.18131},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Spectrally enhanced gravitational redshift signals in photonic interferometry
AU - Jerzy Paczos
AU - Piotr T. Grochowski
AU - Natalia Bruno
AU - Emanuele Distante
AU - Stephan Welte
AU - Magdalena Zych
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.18131
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.18131
AB - Quantum mechanics and general relativity are remarkably successful, yet their joint predictions remain beyond direct experimental reach. Photonic interferometers operating in a gravitational field offer a promising route to test this regime: gravitational redshift differentiates photon propagation between vertically separated arms, leading to a predicted phase shift and reduction in interference visibility. These effects are minute on laboratory scales, motivating existing proposals to consider large interferometer areas to accumulate them geometrically. Indeed, such schemes typically require kilometre-scale optical paths to produce appreciable interferometric signals. Here, we propose a strategy that replaces geometric accumulation with spectral enhancement by coupling the two interferometer arms to optical scatterers based on ultranarrow atomic transitions. These transitions serve as local spectral references: gravitational redshift changes the photon's detuning from each resonance, producing large differences in reflection amplitude and hence substantial visibility loss and interferometric phase shift already for centimetre-scale height differences. We quantify the experimental requirements and assess the feasibility of implementation with current or near-term technology. Our proposal thus opens a route to tabletop optical tests of the interplay between quantum mechanics and general relativity.
ER -