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arXiv:2212.03884

Detection of hidden photon dark matter using the direct excitation of transmon qubits

S. Chen, Hajime Fukuda, Toshiaki Inada, Takeo Moroi, T. Nitta, Thanaporn Sichanugrist

Published Dec 7, 2022• 0 citations
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Abstract

We propose a novel dark matter detection method utilizing the excitation of superconducting transmon qubits. Assuming the hidden photon dark matter of a mass of $O(10)\ μ{\rm eV}$, the classical wave-matter oscillation induces an effective ac electric field via the small kinetic mixing with the ordinary photon. This serves as a coherent drive field for a qubit when it is resonant, evolving it from the ground state towards the first-excited state. We evaluate the rate of such evolution and observable excitations in the measurements, as well as the search sensitivity to the hidden photon dark matter. For a selected mass, one can reach $ε\sim 10^{-12}-10^{-14}$ (where $ε$ is the kinetic mixing parameter of the hidden photon) with a single standard transmon qubit. A simple extension to the frequency-tunable SQUID-based transmon enables the mass scan to cover the whole $4-40\ μ{\rm eV}$ ($1-10$ GHz) range within a reasonable length of run time. The sensitivity scalability along the number of the qubits also makes it a promising platform in accord to the rapid evolution of the superconducting quantum computer technology.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2212.03884

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We propose a novel dark matter detection method utilizing the excitation of superconducting transmon qubits. Assuming the hidden photon dark matter of a mass of O(10) μeVO(10)\ μ{\rm eV}O(10) μeV, the classical wave-matter oscillation induces an effective ac electric field via the small kinetic mixing with the ordinary photon. This serves as a coherent drive field for a qubit when it is resonant, evolving it from the ground state towards the first-excited state. We evaluate the rate of such evolution and observable excitations in the measurements, as well as the search sensitivity to the hidden photon dark matter. For a selected mass, one can reach ε∼10−12−10−14ε\sim 10^{-12}-10^{-14}ε∼10−12−10−14 (where εεε is the kinetic mixing parameter of the hidden photon) with a single standard transmon qubit. A simple extension to the frequency-tunable SQUID-based transmon enables the mass scan to cover the whole 4−40 μeV4-40\ μ{\rm eV}4−40 μeV (1−101-101−10 GHz) range within a reasonable length of run time. The sensitivity scalability along the number of the qubits also makes it a promising platform in accord to the rapid evolution of the superconducting quantum computer technology.
We propose a novel dark matter detection method utilizing the excitation of superconducting transmon qubits. Assuming the hidden photon dark matter of a mass of O(10) μeV, the classical wave-matter oscillation induces an effective ac electric field via the small kinetic mixing with the ordinary photon. This serves as a coherent drive field for a qubit when it is resonant, evolving it from the ground state towards the first-excited state. We evaluate the rate of such evolution and observable excitations in the measurements, as well as the search sensitivity to the hidden photon dark matter. For a selected mass, one can reach ε∼10^{-13}-10^{-12} (where ε is the kinetic mixing parameter of the hidden photon) with a few tens of seconds using a single standard transmon qubit. A simple extension to the frequency-tunable SQUID-based transmon enables the mass scan to cover the range of 4-40 μeV (1-10 GHz) within a reasonable length of run time. The scheme has great potential to extend the sensitivity towards various directions including being incorporated into the cavity-based haloscope experiments or the currently available multibit noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computer machines.
Detection mechanisms for low mass bosonic dark matter candidates, such as the axion or hidden photon, leverage potential interactions with electromagnetic fields, whereby the dark matter (of unknown mass) on rare occasion converts into a single photon. Current dark matter searches operating at microwave frequencies use a resonant cavity to coherently accumulate the field sourced by the dark matter and a near standard quantum limited (SQL) linear amplifier to read out the cavity signal. To further increase sensitivity to the dark matter signal, sub-SQL detection techniques are required. Here we report the development of a novel microwave photon counting technique and a new exclusion limit on hidden photon dark matter. We operate a superconducting qubit to make repeated quantum nondemolition measurements of cavity photons and apply a hidden Markov model analysis to reduce the noise to 15.7 dB below the quantum limit, with overall detector performance limited by a residual background of real photons. With the present device, we perform a hidden photon search and constrain the kinetic mixing angle to ε≤1.68×10^{-15} in a band around 6.011 GHz (24.86 μeV) with an integration time of 8.33 s. This demonstrated noise reduction technique enables future dark matter searches to be sped up by a factor of 1,300. By coupling a qubit to an arbitrary quantum sensor, more general sub-SQL metrology is possible with the techniques presented in this Letter.
Dark matter is an enduring mystery in our quest to understand the fundamental constituents of our universe. Low mass bosons, such the axion or hidden photon, are compelling dark matter candidates. We leverage their potential interactions with electromagnetic fields, whereby the dark matter (of unknown mass) on rare occasion converts into a single photon, to devise a method of detecting these candidates. Current dark matter searches operating at microwave frequencies use a resonant cavity to coherently accumulate the field sourced by the dark matter and a near standard quantum limited (SQL) linear amplifier to read out the cavity signal. To further increase sensitivity to the dark matter signal and enable future searches, sub-SQL detection techniques are required. In this thesis, I report the development of a novel microwave photon counting technique and a new exclusion limit on hidden photon dark matter. We operate a superconducting qubit to make repeated quantum non-demolition measurements of cavity photons and apply a hidden Markov model analysis to reduce the noise to 15.7 dB below the quantum limit, with overall detector performance limited by a residual background of real photons. With the present device, we perform a hidden photon search and constrain the kinetic mixing angle to less than 1.68 X 10^{-15} in a band around 6.011 GHz (24.86 micro-eV) with an integration time of 8.33 s. This demonstrated noise reduction technique enables future dark matter searches to be sped up by a factor of 1300. By coupling a qubit to an arbitrary quantum sensor, more general sub-SQL metrology is possible with the techniques presented in this work.
Coherent detection of ultralight bosonic dark matter can be achieved by monitoring slow Rabi oscillations in superconducting qubits. We introduce an ancilla-assisted, gate-based protocol that enhances sensitivity to the hidden photon kinetic mixing parameter εεε using a single two-qubit gate, bypassing the need to maintain long-lived multi-qubit entangled states and remaining compatible with the limitations of modern quantum hardware. We characterized the increase in sensitivity accounting for decoherence, thermal occupation, errors in readout and reset, indicating up to a ten-fold reduction in the required integration time to reach the same exclusion limit on εεε achievable via Rabi-sampling experiments. Under plausible hardware assumptions and three years of data taking, the projected 95%95\%95% C.L. exclusion limit on the hidden photon mixing parameter reaches ε≈1×10−14ε\approx 1\times 10^{-14}ε≈1×10−14 across 2.52.52.5-6.06.06.0 GHz (101010-252525 \textmu eV).
We propose a direct axion dark matter (DM) search using superconducting transmon quantum bits (qubits) as quantum sensors. With an external magnetic field applied, axion DM generates an oscillating electric field, which causes the excitation of the qubit. Such an excitation can be regarded as a signal of the axion DM. We provide a theoretical consideration of the excitation process of the qubits, taking into account the effects of the shielding cavity surrounding the qubits, and estimate the signal rate for the axion DM detection. We also discuss the enhancement of the DM signal by using cavity resonance and entangled quantum sensors realized by a quantum circuit. Combining these two effects, we can reach the parameter region suggested by QCD axion models. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We report an axion dark matter search with a haloscope equipped with a microwave photon counter. The haloscope is a tunable high quality factor three-dimensional microwave cavity placed in a magnetic field. The photon counter, operated cyclically, maps an incoming microwave photon onto the state of a superconducting transmon qubit. The measurement protocol continuously monitors the power emitted by the haloscope cavity as well as the dark count background and enables tuning of the cavity frequency to probe different axion masses. With this apparatus, we enhance by a factor of 20 the search speed that can be reached with quantum-limited linear amplifiers and set a new standard for probing the existence of axions with resonant detectors above 5 GHz.