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Reflection from a transversely moving mirror

Abstract

ALTHOUGH there have been many experiments which demonstrate the first order Doppler effect in the reflection of electromagnetic waves from a mirror with a component of radial motion, there has not yet been a precise determination of the frequency of light reflected from a transversely moving mirror. There is some confusion about whether light reflected from a mirror moving transversely to an incident beam should be reflected at a frequency which is different from that of the beam, because of a relativistic (second order Doppler) effect1,2. Any frequency shift would be extremely small, and there are severe experimental difficulties in attempting to observe a shift of magnitude equal to or less than that associated with the transverse Doppler effect. The experiment described here was designed to overcome these difficulties and to investigate the possibility of frequency shifts of a smaller magnitude than that which would correspond to the second order Doppler shifts associated with transversely moving emitters3. The overall accuracy of the experiment is better than one part in 1016.

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References

  1. Ditchburn, R. W., Light (Blackie and Son, Glasgow, 1952).

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  2. Jennison, R. C., Nature, 203, 395 (1964).

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  3. Champeney, D. C., and Moon, P. B., Proc. Phys. Soc., 77, 350 (1961).

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  4. Einstein, A., Annln Phys., 17, (1905).

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JENNISON, R., DAVIES, P. Reflection from a transversely moving mirror. Nature 248, 660–661 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/248660a0

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