Probing virtual ALPs by precision phase measurements: time-varying magnetic field background

Abstract

Abstract We propose an experimental scheme for detecting the effects of off-shell axion-like particles (ALPs) through optical cavities. In this proposed experiment, linearly polarized photons are pumped into an optical cavity where an external time-dependent magnetic field is present. The magnetic field mediates an interaction between the cavity photons and ALPs giving rise to a modification in the phase of the cavity photons. The time-dependent nature of the external magnetic field prompts a novel amplification effect which significantly enhances this phase modification. A detection scheme is then proposed to identify such axion-induced phase shifts. We find that the phase modification is considerably sensitive to the photon-ALPs coupling constants gaγγ for the range of ALPs mass 3.1 μeV ⩽ ma ⩽ 44.4 μeV.