Can a Michelson Interferometer Detect Gravitational Waves on a Small Scale?

[Dr.Brain]

I am doing a project on GW Detection , pls tell me if there is anyway I can prove GW presence at project level (as in apparatus shouldn't be too buly or big as like LIGO or somehting ) ...I have built a Michelson Interferometer , but how do I prove there is a distortion in spacetime using tht??..pls pls help , if there is no way i can detect GW , can I do something by changin the path lengths of the light tht travels in the apparatus , using sound waves??...hw do i do it??...can I use tuning forks to show fringe shifts ??..what frequency forks i need then/??..pls help ..Otherwise i am goin nowhere with this ...

 

[Integral]

By GW, do you mean Gravity Wave?

You are, of course, aware that NO ONE has EVER detected a gravity wave?

 

[Dr.Brain]

gravitational wave I mean ... a wave of abt 4 km amplitude , makes 10^-12 m distortion in spacetime..I know its impossible to prove it in my project ..but can I use some sort of analogy , maybe use sound waves to show fringe shifts ??...I am nt interested in direct detection , my project is abt Apparatus which can possibly detect GW , LIGO is basically Interferometer , but ofcourse larger than my apparatus , what can I do/??...shud i use comp. simulations ??...to show how this thing happens , and manually move the mirrors in interferometer to show what can be possible..??

 

[vanesch]

gravitational wave I mean ... a wave of abt 4 km amplitude , makes 10^-12 m distortion in spacetime..I know its impossible to prove it in my project ..but can I use some sort of analogy , maybe use sound waves to show fringe shifts ??...I am nt interested in direct detection , my project is abt Apparatus which can possibly detect GW , LIGO is basically Interferometer , but ofcourse larger than my apparatus , what can I do/??...shud i use comp. simulations ??...to show how this thing happens , and manually move the mirrors in interferometer to show what can be possible..??

It will be difficult to "bend spacetime" to mimick GW. What you would need is something that changes the distance over one arm of an interferrometer, without changing the actual positions of the mirrors and so on.

Mmm, maybe you could mimick that with the refractive index of some fluid! Maybe you could modulate a parameter (temperature, pressure...) of the fluid in one arm such as to obtain a similar effect as a genuine change of distance in spacetime. Mind you, I'm just chatting out of the back of my head here, didn't estimate anything.