Abstract
Light propagating in opposite directions around the same loop in general shows a relative phase shift when recombined. This phenomenon is known as the Sagnac effect after Georges Sagnac who, in 1913, demonstrated with an interferometer on a rotating table that the phase shift depended on the angular velocity of the table. In previous work we have given a very general formula for the Sagnac effect, valid in full general relativity. The relativistic effect not only contains the ‘classical’ contribution from the rotation of the laboratory but also contributions due its acceleration and due to incoming gravitational waves. Here, we point out a major consequence of this gravitational effect which may have implications for third generation gravitational wave detectors. We describe ‘antenna’ designs which pick out specific components of the Weyl tensor describing the incident gravitational waves.