Lasers fired east and west arrive at different times due to Earth's rotation
Laser beams and optical interferometers travelling in opposite directions experience time and phase differences due to the rotation of the Earth, a phenomenon known as the Sagnac effect which is routinely measured by ring laser gyroscopes.
The retrieved papers extensively discuss ring laser gyroscopes, optical interferometry, and the Sagnac effect, which describes how rotation alters the travel times and phase relationships of counter-propagating light beams. The claim is well-supported by multiple high-quality sources on laser gyroscopy and rotation sensing.
Gautier R, Guessoum M, Sidorenkov LA, Bouton Q, Landragin A, Geiger R. Accurate measurement of the Sagnac effect for matter waves.. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn8009
Paper [2] uses matter wave interferometry to measure the phase shift induced by Earth's rotation.
See more details
Woo-Seok Choi, Kyu-Min Shim, Kyung-Ho Chong, Jun-Eon An, Cheon-Joong Kim, Byung-Yoon Park. Sagnac Effect Compensations and Locked States in a Ring Laser Gyroscope. 2023. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23031718
Paper [3] discusses ring laser gyroscopes and compensating for the Sagnac effect caused by rotation.
Liu K, Zhang F, Li Z, Feng X, Li K, Du Y, Schreiber KU, Lu Z, Zhang J. Noise Analysis of a Passive Resonant Laser Gyroscope.. 2020. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185369
Paper [8] explains how large-scale laser gyroscopes measure the Earth's rotation without external references via the Sagnac effect.
Schreiber KU, Hugentobler U, Kodet J, Stellmer S, Klügel T, Wells JR. Gyroscope measurements of the precession and nutation of Earth's axis.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adx6634
Paper [9] demonstrates the operation of a free space ring laser gyroscope measuring rotation relative to inertial space, detecting Earth's dynamics.
Kudelin I, Sugavanam S, Chernysheva M. Rotation Active Sensors Based on Ultrafast Fibre Lasers.. 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21103530
Paper [10] reviews ultrafast fibre lasers employing the optical Sagnac effect to accurately measure angular velocity and Earth rotation.
The paper trail · every fact has a biography
Challenge the receipt
Citation formatting by citeproc-js (Frank Bennett) and the Citation Style Language project. Source and licenses.
Terms · Privacy · How verdicts work · Dispute this receipt