Speaker
Description
The QUest for Axion (QUAX) is a direct-detection CDM axion search which reaches the sensitivity necessary for the detection of galactic QCD-axion in the range of frequency 8.5-11 GHz. The QUAX collaboration is operating two haloscopes, located at LNL- and LNF-INFN laboratories in Italy, that work in synergy and operate in different mass ranges. In this talk we will report about results obtained at the LNL laboratories, using a high quality factor dielectric cavity cooled at less than 100 mK inside a dilution refrigerator equipped with a 8 T magnet. With a TWPA-based amplification chain for cavity signal readout, resulting in a system noise temperature of 2 K, data have been acquired and analyzed to probe for KSVZ axions in a small range around a frequency of 10.3 GHz.
We will also report about R&D activity aimed at increasing the scanning speed with application of transmon-based single microwave photon detectors (SMPDs) for cavity readout. The prototype haloscope we developed is based on a cylindrical copper cavity sputtered with NbTi, resonant at 7.3 GHz frequency, and cooled at mK temperatures inside a dilution refrigerator equipped with a SC magnet. Results obtained employing a moderate magnetic field will be described.
