Speaker
Elizabeth Leason
Description
QUEST-DMC aims to utilise the tiny ($10^{-7}$ eV) energy gap in superfluid helium-3 to perform a low threshold dark matter search, capable of probing the lowest particle dark matter masses. The detector consists of a superfluid bolometer cell, instrumented with nanowire resonators - which measure quasiparticle damping forces from energy deposits. The nanowires are read out using quantum sensors, essential for achieving low noise and energy thresholds. A bolometer with SQUID readout of two nanowires was operated for 6 months in 2024, at temperatures down to 0.3mK. Here, results of the nanowire characterisation, bolometer operation and development of energy calibration schemes will be presented.
