Skip to main content

Cornell University

Katz Lab

Setting atoms & ions in |motion>

Dark Matter

Various theoretical models propose an abundance of candidates that would explain the physical nature of Dark Matter, a particle whose spin and mass are unknown yet believed to comprise more than 80% of our universe. Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) are one of these candidates that can be produced in the early universe and can account for the observed phenomena associated with Dark Matter.

Various groups search for cosmological Dark Matter using astronomical observations and terrestrial detectors. Terrestrial detectors based on atoms, in particular, play an instrumental role in searching for or excluding the existence of such particles. For example, ultra-light ALPs (whose De-Broglie wavelength is considerably longer than the length of the detector) can potentially couple to protons, neutrons, and electrons in the form of anomalous magnetic fields that induce an oscillatory energy shift at a characteristic frequency that depends on the ALP mass.

We develop precision detectors and advanced sensing techniques that use atoms, ions, and photons to search the dark section of our universe.

Searching for ALP dark matter. a As the Earth moves through the dark matter halo, matter on Earth can potentially interact with the Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) dark matter in a non-gravitational manner. Such interactions can manifest through the gradient field of the ALP coupling to other particles. b ALPs coupling to atoms. The coupling to alkali-metal and noble-gas nuclear spins is manifested as an anomalous-magnetic field which drives the precession of the spins. c Detector configuration. Spin-polarized 39K (red) and 3He (blue) gases are contained in a spherical glass cell, and their precession at a constant magnetic field B is optically monitored. d Operation in SERF regime. Operation with high potassium density renders random spin-exchange collisions between pairs of 39K atoms very frequent, but also suppresses their relaxation (Spin-Exchange Relaxation Free). See Nature Communications 14 5784 (2023) for details.

Selected Publications

  • “Constraints on axion-like dark matter from a SERF comagnetometer“. Bloch, Shaham, Hochberg, Kuflik, Volansky, Katz. Nature Communications 14 5784 (2023).
  • “New constraints on axion-like dark matter using a Floquet quantum detector“, Bloch, Ronen, Shaham, Katz, Volansky, Katz. Science Advances 8, 5 (2022).