Detecting Sub-GeV Dark Matter with Superconducting Nanowires

Abstract

We propose the use of superconducting nanowires as both target and sensor for direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter. With excellent sensitivity to small energy deposits on electrons, and demonstrated low dark counts, such devices could be used to probe electron recoils from dark matter scattering and absorption processes. We demonstrate the feasibility of this idea using measurements of an existing fabricated tungsten-silicide nanowire prototype with 0.8-eV energy threshold and 4.3 nanograms with 10 thousand seconds of exposure, which showed no dark counts. The results from this device already place meaningful bounds on dark matter-electron interactions, including the strongest terrestrial bounds on sub-eV dark photon absorption to date. Future expected fabrication on larger scales and with lower thresholds should enable probing new territory in the direct detection landscape, establishing the complementarity of this approach to other existing proposals.

Search for Composite Dark Matter with Optically Levitated Sensors

“…Because of sharp DM nugget form-factor suppression in the parameter space chosen here, existing detectors searching for eV-keV-scale NRs [62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69] only constrain σ Xn ≫ 10 −22 cm 2 . The results reported here exceed even the projected sensitivity of a ∼kilogram year exposure of an ambitious future detector with NR threshold as low as 1 meV (dot-dashed, see, e.g., [60,[70][71][72]). Cosmic microwave background limits on DM-baryon interactions assume a coupling to protons, which is model dependent and need not apply here [73], although the f X ¼ 1 region is expected to be excluded by DM self-interaction bounds [60,61], which do not apply for f X ≲ 0.1.…”

Dark matter capture in celestial objects: improved treatment of multiple scattering and updated constraints from white dwarfs

“…Even the upcoming and planned new detectors, will only constrain dark matter heavier than ∼ 350 MeV [14]. For even lighter dark matter masses, in the MeV range, electron recoil experiments can be more relevant but their sensitivity is also rather modest [15][16][17][18][19]. Interestingly, for indirect detection even in the canonical tens-of-GeV range, the perceived stringent constraints are only for annihilations to specific channels and the less model-dependent constraints are not very stringent [20].…”

Unconventional Applications of Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors

“…As attempts to detect dark matter with mass above the GeV scale are so far fruitless, researchers are coming up with proposals of detection of MeV-scale dark matter in semiconductors [ 163 , 164 ], or even lower energies, where superconductors can be used for direct detection through dark matter-electron scattering [ 165 , 166 ]. As of the time of writing of this review, there is no concrete realization SNSPD dark matter search experiment, but Hochberg et al propose use of NbN-based SNSPDs as target and sensor for ultra-light dark matter [ 167 ], citing high sensitivity and very low dark counts when compared to existing experiments.…”