Speaker
Description
The search for axions, light and weakly interacting dark matter particles, is nowadays mostly exploited through photon coupling in the sub-meV region. In this range, only haloscopes have a sensitivity to test theoretically motivated axion models.
(talk by Di Vora for the last updates on the QUAX haloscope)
Axions can also be exploited through coupling to fermions, but no experiment is able to reach the required sensitivity in the sub-meV mass range to this date.
Recently, Single Microwave Photon Detectors (SMPDs), chips comprised of two resonators coupled to a superconducting qubit, have been demonstrated to increase the sensitivity to axion signals in a haloscope. The SMPD resolution is a single microwave photon, which allows them to overcome the so-called Standard Quantum Limits of linear amplifiers.
This novel improvement is now being implemented on a ferromagnetic haloscope to further enhance the sensitivity to axions through coupling to the electron. The hypothetical axion signal will excite the magnon mode of a ferromagnetic material (YIG in our case) inserted inside the haloscope cavity. Under the condition of strong coupling, the hybrid mode polariton-magnon can be picked up and read out with the SMPD.
The axion mass tuning is performed by varying the magnetic field acting on the ferromagnetic material. The range to be probed, from $7.2$ to $7.4$\,GHz, will also test the ability to downscale such haloscopes.
| Main Contribution topic | Direct detection |
|---|---|
| Secondary contribution topic | Axion / Sterile |