Gauge theories of gravity provide an elegant and promising extension of
general relativity. In this paper we show that the Poincar\'e gauge theory
exhibits gravity-induced birefringence under the assumption of a specific gauge
invariant nonminimal coupling between torsion and Maxwell's field. Furthermore
we give for the first time an explicit expression for the induced phaseshift
between two orthogonal polarization modes within the Poincar\'e framework.
Since such a phaseshift can lead to a depolarization of light emitted from an
extended source this effect is, in principle, observable. We use white dwarf
polarimetric data to constrain the essential coupling constant responsible for
this effect.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication by Physical Review
