Decisive experimental confirmation of the U(1) quantum spin liquid phase in quantum spin ice remains an outstanding challenge. In this work, we propose stray-field magnetometry as a direct probe of the emergent photons -- the gapless excitation of the emergent electrodynamics in quantum spin ice. The emergent photons are transverse magnetization waves, which, in a finite sample, form discrete modes governed by one of two sets of natural boundary conditions: ``insulating'' or ``superconducting''. Considering cavity and thin film geometries, we find that the spectrum and spatial structure of the stray magnetic noise provide a sharp qualitative signature of the underlying electrodynamics. The predicted stray-field noise power lies comfortably within the detection range of present-day solid-state defect magnetometry.
@article{arxiv.2512.14843,
title = {Hearing the light: stray-field noise from the emergent photon in quantum spin ice},
author = {Gautam K. Naik and Jonathan N. Hallén and Nishan C. Jayarama and Roderich Moessner and Chris R. Laumann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.14843},
year = {2025}
}