Low mass particle-like dark matter
What if dark matter is a pretty light particle, on the scale of the mass of an electron or lighter? Traditional DM experiments (think large vats of some noble gas instrumented with light sensors) are insensitive to the potentially very tiny energy deposits that arise from such particles interacting within the bulk, forcing us to think of alternative strategies:
Quantum Parity Detectors (QPDs)
Superconducting qubits were developed for the purpose of quantum computing. Unfortunately, these devices are extremely sensitive to environmental effects and radiation. Fortunately for us, we can attempt to repurpose them as particle detectors! QPDs are one attempt to leverage superconducting qubits to detect phonons within a crystalline target.
Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs)
Superconductors also demonstrate an inherent inductance, which means one can pattern them into resonators sensitive again to phonons disturbing their electrical properties. These devices are well established for photon detection and show show great promise for rare-event searches.
Wave-like dark matter
Below a certain mass (<< eV), it’s better to think of dark matter as a wave rather than as individual particles. In this very light regime, two related and promising candidates for DM are axions and hidden-photons. We are building a generic experimental umbrella called QUALIPHIDE (Quantum Limited Photons in the Dark Experiment) as a testbed for different axion hunting technologies. We’ve built a variant, which uses a “broadband dish” setup, to set world leading hidden-photon dark matter search limits in the 20-30 dev mass range and are currently working on a THz variant looking for 5 meV hidden-photons.
