21st Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs

Electron-coupled dark matter search with an ultrasensitive superconducting magnetometer

Not scheduled

20m

University of Western Australia

Oral Presentation

Speaker

David Herbschleb (QUP, KEK)

Description

Ultra-low mass axion-like particles are well-motivated dark matter candidates. The wave-like behaviour in the sub-eV mass range is leveraged for searches for this possibility via coupling to fermion spins. In the non-relativistic limit, spins experience this dark matter background as a minuscule pseudo-magnetic field that can be measured exploiting quantum sensing methods. Here, we explore a way to use a non-spin magnetometer, a superconducting quantum interference device in conjunction with a magnetic shield, to probe this regime. With this method, we improve terrestrial bounds on axion-like particles in a range covering about six orders of magnitude.