Nuclear, Particle, Astroparticle and Cosmology (NUPAC) Seminars
Using Qubit Technologies for Dark Matter Axion Detection
Presented by Dr. Aaron S. Chou (Fermilab)
Quantum-enhanced techniques are being developed to enable the detection of dark matter waves composed of axions -- a new type of bosonic particle hypothesized to solve the 70-year mystery of the vanishing neutron electric dipole moment. While current axion experiments are already operating near the standard quantum limit of phase-preserving amplifiers, the next-generation technology will avoid the quantum zero-point noise by measuring only the signal photon amplitude while ignoring the conjugate phase observable. Qubit-based artificial atoms can be used to nondestructively sense the electric field signal of individual signal photons generated by the axion dark matter and achieve readout noise levels far below the standard quantum limit.
Another related technique prepares the initial cavity state with a large amplitude wave in all phases of its oscillation in order to stimulate the emission of photons from the dark matter wave while simultaneously evading shot noise. Ultra-high-Q photonic bandgap cavities will be used to stabilize these non-classical cavity states. Together these technologies will enable future experiments to reach sensitivity to the long sought-after QCD axion and probe new physics from atomic to cosmological scales.
2:00 pm, Tuesday, May 7, 2019
PAIS-2540, PAIS
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