Probing Virtual ALPs by Precision Phase Measurements: Time-Varying Magnetic Field Background

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 $g_{a\gamma\gamma}$ for the range of ALPs mass $3.1\:\mu\textrm{eV}\leqslant m_a \leqslant 44.4\:\mu\textrm{eV}$.