Ultra high frequency gravitational waves from Laguerre–Gaussian beam: a possible source in lab

Abstract The detection of gravitational waves (GW) from astrophysical sources has opened a new era in physics. However, advances in high-energy laser systems make it possible to consider gravitational waves produced in the laboratory. In this work, the angular distribution and energy flux of gravitational waves radiated by high-power Laguerre–Gaussian beams are analysed. With a power of $$10^{22}~\text {W}/\text {cm}^2$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mn>22</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace/> <mml:mtext>W</mml:mtext> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mtext>cm</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and frequency of $$10^{15}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mn>15</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:math> Hz for the LG beams, the radiated GW frequency is twice the laser frequency and the maximal GW amplitude can reach $$10^{-34},$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>34</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> which is quite small compared with the current detection threshold of around $$10^{-21}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>21</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> by LIGO. It is shown in Ejlli et al. (Eur Phys J C 79:1032, 2019) that the inverse Gertsenshtein effect is able to detect ultra high frequency gravitational wave with frequency up to $$10^{15}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mn>15</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:math> Hz and strain around $$10^{-30},$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>30</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> which may provide a viable way to measure gravitational waves produced by high-power lasers in the future.