Stadnik Y V, Flambaum V V
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Apr 24;114(16):161301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.161301. Epub 2015 Apr 22.
Any slight variations in the fundamental constants of nature, which may be induced by dark matter or some yet-to-be-discovered cosmic field, would characteristically alter the phase of a light beam inside an interferometer, which can be measured extremely precisely. Laser and maser interferometry may be applied to searches for the linear-in-time drift of the fundamental constants, detection of topological defect dark matter through transient-in-time effects, and for a relic, coherently oscillating condensate, which consists of scalar dark matter fields, through oscillating effects. Our proposed experiments require either minor or no modifications of existing apparatus, and offer extensive reach into important and unconstrained spaces of physical parameters.
