In a new paper we focused on a new phenomenon, that we called “gravito-magnetic resonance”. In a previous paper we showed that, using Fermi coordinates, the field of a plane gravitational wave can be described in close analogy to the electromagnetic field, in terms of a gravito-electric and gravito-magnetic field: these fields are are transverse to the propagation direction and orthogonal to each other. Then, the action of the wave on antennas is determined by a Lorentz-like force equation.
In this framework, the magnetic-like part of the wave field couples to mass currents and, in particular, to spinning particles: we suggest that a new phenomenon, that we call “gravitomagnetic resonance“, may occur, where spins can be flipped by the passage of the gravitational wave.
Gravitomagnetic resonance can be used to design new gravitational waves detectors which, for instance, exploit collective spin excitations (spin waves) in magnetized materials. These detectors could be relevant in the search for high-frequency gravitational waves.