Single Phonon Detection for Dark Matter via Quantum Evaporation and Sensing of $^3$Helium

Abstract

Dark matter is five times more abundant than ordinary visible matter in our Universe. While laboratory searches hunting for dark matter have traditionally focused on the electroweak scale, theories of low mass hidden sectors motivate new detection techniques. Extending these searches to lower mass ranges, well below 1 GeV/c 2 , poses new challenges as rare interactions with standard model matter transfer progressively less energy to electrons and nuclei in detectors. Here, we propose an approach based on phonon-assisted quantum evaporation combined with quantum sensors for detection of desorption events via tracking of spin coherence. The intent of our proposed dark matter sensors is to extend the parameter space to energy transfers in rare interactions to as low as a few meV for detection of dark matter particles in the keV/c 2 mass range.

Review on dark matter searches

“…• The HeRALD project (Helium Roton Apparatus for Light Dark Matter) proposes the use of superfluid 4 He as target and low temperature calorimeters (TES) as sensors to measure photons and quasiparticles by quantum evaporation [111]. Single phonon detection for DM via quantum evaporation and sensing of 3 He has been proposed too [112]. • High purity lab-grown diamond crystals as target outfitted with cryogenic phonon and charge readout could be sensitive to DM scattering of very low mass candidates [113].…”

Dark Matter Meets Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

“…These experiments use extremely sensitive particle detectors, ranging from CCD chips to cryogenic calorimeters. Preliminary work has also been carried out on, for example, detectors containing superfluid helium that can discern the tiny amounts of crystal-lattice vibrations generated when a dark matter particle hits a target atomic nucleus in the detector [8]. All these methods are optimized for the lowest-possible energy thresholds, which are particularly crucial when looking for sub-GeV/c 2 dark matter.…”

Quantum Sensors for High Precision Measurements of Spin-dependent Interactions

“…In Ref. [259], a new method for detecting low-mass dark matter particles is proposed. The idea is that if a dark matter particle deposits a small amount of energy ( 1 meV) into a high-quality crystalline solid, that energy will eventually be converted into ballistic phonons travelling to the crystal surface.…”

“…The 3 He atoms can be localized at mK temperatures to bound electon states on this second helium film [261], and subsequently detected by sensing their magnetic moments, by measuring, for example, decoherence of electron spin qubits [262]. This methodology opens the possibility of single 3 He atom detection and dark matter particle detection at the ∼ 1 meV scale [259].…”