Displacement-noise-free gravitational-wave detector using quantum tomography of photon orbital angular momentum states
Abstract
Gravitational waves (GWs) induce quantum transitions between photon orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) states with amplitudes α±. Exploiting this effect, we present a displacement-noise-free detection framework that extracts GW information from the OAM Hilbert space. Parametrized quantum state tomography of the GW-induced OAM sidebands enables a single V-shaped detector to resolve all seven wave parameters: the frequency, propagation direction, two polarization amplitudes, and initial phase of each polarization. Direct detection of the sidebands yields a weak signal of approximately 10−15 W. We therefore introduce a stronger reference state r |0>P, with r=0.01, to enhance the detected signal. For an arm length of L=4 m, N=160 round trips, a paraxial parameter of γ=0.1, an incident light power of PBS=10 kW, a wavelength of λopt=1064 nm, and GW amplitudes of A=10−18, we estimate sideband transition amplitudes of |α±|∼10−10 and signal powers of order 1 nW, scaling as PBSα±∝ PBSANLγ/λopt. The shot-noise-limited sensitivity floor is S1/2n=1.6×10−20 Hz−1/2. Because the scheme measures OAM transition amplitudes rather than differential arm lengths, it is intrinsically free from displacement noise and provides a broadband probe of GWs, specifically bridging the $0.1−−10\,\mathrm{Hz}$ mid-frequency gap.
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BibTeX
@misc{wu2026displacementnoisefree,
title = {{Displacement-noise-free gravitational-wave detector using quantum tomography of photon orbital angular momentum states}},
author = {Haorong Wu and Xilong Fan and Lixiang Chen},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.21112},
eprint = {2610.21112},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21112},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Displacement-noise-free gravitational-wave detector using quantum tomography of photon orbital angular momentum states
AU - Haorong Wu
AU - Xilong Fan
AU - Lixiang Chen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.21112
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21112
AB - Gravitational waves (GWs) induce quantum transitions between photon orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) states with amplitudes α_±. Exploiting this effect, we present a displacement-noise-free detection framework that extracts GW information from the OAM Hilbert space. Parametrized quantum state tomography of the GW-induced OAM sidebands enables a single V-shaped detector to resolve all seven wave parameters: the frequency, propagation direction, two polarization amplitudes, and initial phase of each polarization. Direct detection of the sidebands yields a weak signal of approximately 10^−15 W. We therefore introduce a stronger reference state r |0>_P, with r=0.01, to enhance the detected signal. For an arm length of L=4 m, N=160 round trips, a paraxial parameter of γ=0.1, an incident light power of P_BS=10 kW, a wavelength of λ_opt=1064 nm, and GW amplitudes of A=10^−18, we estimate sideband transition amplitudes of |α_±|∼10^−10 and signal powers of order 1 nW, scaling as P_BSα_±∝ P_BSANLγ/λ_opt. The shot-noise-limited sensitivity floor is S^1/2_n=1.6×10^−20 Hz^−1/2. Because the scheme measures OAM transition amplitudes rather than differential arm lengths, it is intrinsically free from displacement noise and provides a broadband probe of GWs, specifically bridging the $0.1−−10\,\mathrm{Hz}$ mid-frequency gap.
ER -