Rotary photon drag at the earth’s rotation rate in a Sagnac interferometer

Abstract

Our own earth rotates with a moderate angular velocity of \(7.2921159\times 10^{-5}\) rad/sec and completes one revolution approximately in 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.09 seconds, which is also known as a sidereal day. In this work, rotary photon drag (RPD) is theoretically investigated at the earth’s rotation rate in a Saganac interferometer (SI) using a double-V-type rubidium atomic system within the interferometer. RPD angles reach to a maximum of \(\pm 1\times 10^{-10}\), \(\pm 2\times 10^{-10}\) and \(\pm 3\times 10^{-10}\) radians. RPD is examined to be function of probe field detuning, phase angles, and control fields strength. Electric susceptibility, group refractive index, and relativistic group velocities are examined. Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is observed at the specific values of population probability in the two ground states. These results may find potential applications in rotation sensing and special imaging/coding technology.