Axion dark matter detection by superconducting resonant frequency conversion
Asher Berlin (Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, New York, NY, 10003, USA); Raffaele D’Agnolo (Institut de Physique Théorique, Université Paris Saclay, CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, F-91191, France); Sebastian Ellis (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA); Christopher Nantista (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA); Jeffrey Neilson (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA); et al - Show all 9 authors
We propose an approach to search for axion dark matter with a specially designed superconducting radio frequency cavity, targeting axions with masses m a ≲ 10 −6 eV. Our approach exploits axion-induced transitions between nearly degenerate resonant modes of frequency ∼ GHz. A scan over axion mass is achieved by varying the frequency splitting between the two modes. Compared to traditional approaches, this allows for parametrically enhanced signal power for axions lighter than a GHz. The projected sensitivity covers unexplored parameter space for QCD axion dark matter for 10 −8 eV ≲ m a ≲ 10 −6 eV and axion-like particle dark matter as light as m a ∼ 10 −14 eV.
