Gravitational waves from high-power twisted light

Abstract

Recent advances in high-energy and high-peak-power laser systems have opened up new possibilities for fundamental physics research. In this work, the potential of twisted light for the generation of gravitational waves in the high frequency regime is explored for the first time. Focusing on Bessel beams, novel analytic expressions and numerical computations for the generated metric perturbations and associated powers are presented. The gravitational peak intensity is shown to reach 1.44×10-5 W m-2 close to the source, and 1.01×10-19 W m-2 ten meters away. Compelling evidence is provided that the properties of the generated gravitational waves, such as frequency, polarization states, and direction of emission, are controllable by the laser pulse parameters and optical arrangements.