Detection of high-frequency gravitational waves using high-energy pulsed lasers

We propose a new method for detecting high-frequency gravitational waves (GWs) using high-energy pulsed lasers. Through the inverse Gertsenshtein effect, the interaction between a GW and the laser beam results in the creation of an electromagnetic signal. The latter can be detected using single-photon counting techniques. We compute the minimal strain of a detectable GW which only depends on the laser parameters. We find that a resonance occurs in this process when the frequency of the GW is twice the frequency of the laser. With this method, the frequency range 10 13 –10 19 Hz is explored non-continuously for strains h ≳ 10 − 20 for current laser systems and can be extended to h ≳ 10 − 26 with future generation facilities.