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Search for axion-like dark matter with spin-based amplifiers

Nature Physics volume 17, pages 1402–1407 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Ultralight axion-like particles are well-motivated dark matter candidates introduced by theories beyond the standard model of particle physics. However, directly constraining their parameter space with laboratory experiments usually yields weaker limits than indirect approaches relying on astrophysical observations. Here we report the search for axion-like particles with a quantum sensor in the mass range of 8.3–744.0 feV. The sensor makes use of hyperpolarized long-lived nuclear spins as a pre-amplifier that effectively enhances a coherently oscillating axion-like dark matter field by a factor of more than 100. Using these spin-based amplifiers, we achieve an ultrahigh magnetic sensitivity of 18 fT Hz–(1/2), which exceeds the performance of state-of-the-art nuclear spin magnetometers. Our experiment constrains the parameter space describing the coupling of axion-like particles to nucleons over the aforementioned mass range, namely, at 67.5 feV reaching 2.9 × 10−9 GeV−1, improving on previous laboratory constraints by at least five orders of magnitude. Our measurements also constrain the quadratic interaction between axion-like particles and nucleons as well as interactions between dark photons and nucleons, exceeding bounds from astrophysical observations.

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Fig. 1: Basic principle of the spin-based amplifier.
Fig. 2: Proof-of-principle demonstrations of the spin-based amplifier.
Fig. 3: Amplification and sensitivity of magnetic-field measurement assisted with a spin-based amplifier.
Fig. 4: Results of axion-like dark matter search.

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Data availability

Source data are provided with this paper. All other data that support the plots in this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

The code that supports the plots in this paper is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

M.J., H.S. and X.P. were supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2018YFA0306600), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants nos. 11661161018, 11927811 and 12004371), Anhui Initiative in Quantum Information Technologies (grant no. AHY050000) and USTC Research Funds of the Double First-Class Initiative (grant no. YD3540002002). D.B. and A.G. were supported by the Cluster of Excellence PRISMA+ funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the German Excellence Strategy (project ID 39083149), by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Dark-OsT project; grant agreement no. 695405), by the DFG Reinhart Koselleck project, and by the Emergent AI Center funded by Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Min Jiang, Haowen Su.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Min Jiang, Haowen Su & Xinhua Peng

  2. CAS Key Laboratory of Microscale Magnetic Resonance, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Min Jiang, Haowen Su & Xinhua Peng

  3. Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Min Jiang, Haowen Su & Xinhua Peng

  4. Helmholtz-Institut, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Mainz, Germany

    Antoine Garcon & Dmitry Budker

  5. Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

    Antoine Garcon & Dmitry Budker

  6. Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Dmitry Budker

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Contributions

M.J. designed the experimental protocols, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. H.S. performed the experiments, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. A.G. analysed the data and edited the manuscript. X.P. proposed the experimental concept, devised the experimental protocols and edited the manuscript. D.B. contributed to the design of the experiment, and proofread and edited the manuscript. All the authors contributed with discussions and checking the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xinhua Peng.

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Peer review information Nature Physics thanks Claudio Gatti, Maurizio Giannotti and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–15, text and references.

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Data for plotting Fig. 2d.

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Data for plotting Fig. 4b–d.

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Jiang, M., Su, H., Garcon, A. et al. Search for axion-like dark matter with spin-based amplifiers. Nat. Phys. 17, 1402–1407 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-021-01392-z

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