Response of a disk antenna to a completely general Riemann tensor with six possible modes of polarization is analyzed. Only the monopole and quadrupole modes of the antenna are found to couple to an arbitrary gravitational wave. The absorption cross sections of these modes for scalar and tensor waves are calculated numerically. It is pointed out that, with two local disk detectors oriented 90° with respect to each other, one can not only determine the incident angles and polarization of the wave but also eliminate spurious non-gravitational-wave signals.

• Received 29 September 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.15.409