Test of the one-way speed of light and the first-order experiment of Special Relativity using phase-conjugate interferometers

Abstract

With a Michelson interferometer using a phase-conjugate mirror (PCM) that reverses the uniform phase shift in a light path, we can conduct a first-order experiment of Special Relativity. Utilization of the PCM changes the basic concepts of an interference experiment. Placing a conventional partially reflecting mirror just in front of the PCM at the end of a light path, we can test the isotropy of the one-way speed of light in a system moving uniformly in a straight line and conduct the one-way Sagnac experiment. According to the reported phase-conjugate Sagnac experiment using a segment light path, we can expect that the phase shift is phi = 4pivL/clambda in the one-way Sagnac experiment with path length L and speed v, even with an increasingly larger radius of the rotation. Based on these and the experimental fact of the generalized Sagnac effect, it is very important to examine whether there is the same phase shift for the test of the one-way speed of light and the first-order experiment using the PCM in a system in straight-line uniform motion. The sensitivities of these experiments are very high.