Speaker
Avani Bhardwaj
Description
The CATCHY experiment (Coherent Atomic Transitions in Cold Hydrogen) is a direct dark matter search designed to amplify weak particle interactions through macroscopic quantum coherence. Standard direct detection methods improve sensitivity by increasing target mass and exposure time, a regime where signal rates scale linearly ($N$). In contrast, a CATCHY-style detector uses two-photon excitation of parahydrogen to achieve a collective process where signal rates can scale as $N^2$. In this talk, I will present the experimental framework and current status for achieving a macroscopic coherent quantum state and discuss its future potential as a very sensitive detector.
| avani.bhardwaj@queensu.ca | |
| Research Theme | Dark Matter |