Abstract

Abstract

There is renewed interest in the Alcubierre Drive prompted by interferometer experimentation conducted by Harold White in NASA Eagleworks Lab. We attempt to replicate the research used by White to develop the same experiment and attempt to achieve similar results. Although the metric proposed by Alcubierre appears to be valid, it is dogged by a number of questions regarding its physical realizability. Because White does not publish his calculations for space-time warping caused by electromagnetic energy, we research and derive our own sensitivity requirements for detecting warp fields. We provide a basis for modeling warp field experiments. Examination of methods included gravitational wave detection through the use of laser, atom, and neutron interferometry as well as resonant-mass detectors while maintaining the primary requirement that the experiment must fit in a tabletop. We found that a resonant-mass detector made of a high frequency phonon trapping acoustic cavity (Goryachev & Tobar, 2014; sensitivity of $$10^{-22}$$ Hz) was the most feasible instrument to perform tabletop experimentation. Measuring high-frequency gravitational waves was the simplest approach to measuring results. Additionally, using the Gertsenshtein equation for converting electromagnetic energy to gravitational waves, we calculate that the magnetic flux density of an electric clock is well within the sensitivity range of Goryachev & Tobar’s device (approximately $$10^{-18}$$ Hz), opening the possibility for small scale experimentation. After establishing experimental requirements, we propose two experiments to further advance Alcubierre experimentation: 1) a proof of spacetime warping sensitivity using an electromagnetic source; and 2) a scalable quantum optical squeezing technique for producing negative energy densities built on work by E. Davis et al., O. Firstenberg et al., and L. H. Ford et al.