DETECTING THE EFFECTS OF LINEAR ACCELERATION ON THE OPTICAL-RESPONSE OF MATTER

We propose two feasible experimental studies of the interaction of lig ht with linearly accelerating media. First, sidebands are induced in t he output spectrum of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer when a dielectric in one arm is oscillated parallel to the beam. Second, linear accelera tion of a dielectric in a.ring cavity will induce asymmetry in the nea r-resonant optical response profile. Both experiments probe the intera ction of photons with inertia by testing the covariant formulation of Maxwell's equations used here and so the related assumption that the l ocal optical properties of a medium are unaffected by acceleration. Th e second experiment is explicitly sensitive to a Doppler shift induced when light propagates through linearly accelerating media, predicted by Tanaka [Phys. Rev. A 25, 385 (1982)]. Observation of this Doppler s hift would confirm a manifestation of the coupling between radiation a nd matter in a noninertial context.