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arXiv:2507.12860 · Physical Review Letters

Detecting Dark Matter Using Optically Trapped Rydberg Atom Tweezer Arrays

So Chigusa, Taiyo Kasamaki, Toshi Kusano, Takeo Moroi, Kazunori Nakayama, Naoya Ozawa, Yoshiro Takahashi, A. Umemoto, Amar C. Vutha

Published Mar 18, 2026• 1 citation
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Abstract

A new scheme for detecting wavelike dark matter (DM) using Rydberg atoms is proposed. Recent advances in trapping and manipulating Rydberg atoms make it possible to use Rydberg atoms trapped in optical tweezer arrays for DM detection. We propose to prepare a large ensemble of Rydberg atoms and to observe the excitations between Rydberg states by the DM-induced effective electric field. A scan over DM mass is enabled with the use of the Zeeman and diamagnetic shifts of energy levels under an applied external magnetic field. Taking dark-photon DM as an example, we demonstrate that our proposed experiment can have high enough sensitivity to probe previously unexplored regions of the parameter space of dark-photon coupling strengths and masses.

DOI
10.1103/s41f-6nw2

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A new scheme for detecting wavelike dark matter (DM) using Rydberg atoms is proposed. Recent advances in trapping and manipulating Rydberg atoms make it possible to use Rydberg atoms trapped in optical tweezer arrays for DM detection. We propose to prepare a large ensemble of Rydberg atoms and to observe the excitations between Rydberg states by the DM-induced effective electric field. A scan over DM mass is enabled with the use of the Zeeman and diamagnetic shifts of energy levels under an applied external magnetic field. Taking dark-photon DM as an example, we demonstrate that our proposed experiment can have high enough sensitivity to probe previously unexplored regions of the parameter space of dark-photon coupling strengths and masses.
Although hidden-photon dark matter with masses above 10−4 eV10^{-4}\,\mathrm{eV}10−4eV is well motivated by inflationary production, it remains largely unexplored by terrestrial experiments. Through kinetic mixing, hidden photons induce a weak oscillating electric field above 10 GHz10\,\mathrm{GHz}10GHz. We propose to amplify this signal using a compact high-frequency distributed cavity and detect it with chip-scale Rydberg-atom superheterodyne spectroscopy. Combining resonant enhancement, large dipole moments of Rydberg atoms, and long-term stable integration, this approach can probe hidden-photon dark matter in the mass range 5×10−5–7×10−4 eV5 \times 10^{-5}\text{--}7\times 10^{-4}\,\mathrm{eV}5×10−5–7×10−4eV with sensitivities 333--444 orders of magnitude beyond existing limits.
Rydberg atoms are highly excited atoms that have large sensitivities to external fields, lending these atoms extraordinary characteristics for fundamental high-precision spectroscopy as well as for electromagnetic-field sensing applications. Recent results on high-precision spectroscopy with cold Rydberg atoms in modulated optical lattices are presented. The discussed approach can serve as a platform for fundamental-physics studies, which include a model-insensitive measurement of the Rydberg constant and a search for wave-like dark matter. As an example for the utility of Rydberg atoms in field sensing applications, an experiment is presented in which the linear Stark effect of cold Rydberg atoms is employed to measure electric fields in cold ion clouds, demonstrating that Rydberg laser spectroscopy allows electrode-free, non-invasive plasma diagnostics.
Ultralight bosonic dark matter with masses in the meV range, corresponding to terahertz (THz) Compton frequencies, remains largely unexplored due to the difficulty of achieving both efficient signal conversion and single-photon-sensitive detection at THz frequencies. We propose a hybrid detection architecture that integrates a dielectric haloscope, Rydberg-atom transducer, and superconducting nanowire single-photon detection within a unified cryogenic platform operating at ≲1 K\lesssim 1\,\text{K}≲1K. The dielectric haloscope converts dark matter into THz photons via phase-matched resonant enhancement, achieving form factors C∼0.4C \sim 0.4C∼0.4 and loaded quality factors QL∼104Q_L \sim 10^4QL​∼104. A cold 87^{87}87Rb ensemble then coherently up-converts the THz signal to the optical domain through six-wave mixing among Rydberg states. The intrinsic directionality and narrow bandwidth (Δνatomic∼1 MHzΔν_{\mathrm{atomic}} \sim 1\,\text{MHz}Δνatomic​∼1MHz) of this process provide extra suppression of isotropic thermal backgrounds. With 10 days of integration at 0.3 K0.3\,\text{K}0.3K, we project sensitivity to the axion-photon coupling gaγγ∼10−13 GeV−1g_{aγγ} \sim 10^{-13}\,\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}gaγγ​∼10−13GeV−1 at ma∼0.4 meVm_a \sim 0.4\,\text{meV}ma​∼0.4meV, reaching the QCD axion band and opening the THz window for searches of both axion and dark photon dark matter.
Scalable quantum computers and quantum networks require the combination of quantum processing nodes with efficient light-matter interfaces to distribute quantum information in local or long-distance quantum networks. Neutral-atom arrays have both been coupled to Rydberg states to enable high-fidelity quantum gates in universal processing architectures, and to optical cavities to realize interfaces to photons. However, combining these two capabilities and coupling atom arrays to highly excited Rydberg states in the mode of an optical cavity has been an outstanding challenge. Here we present a novel cavity-coupled Rydberg array that achieves this long-standing goal. We prepare, detect, and control individual atoms in a scalable optical tweezer array, couple them strongly to the optical mode of a high-finesse optical cavity and excite them in a controlled way to Rydberg states. We show that high-cooperativity coupling to an optical cavity -- demonstrated via the dispersive shift of the resonance of the cavity in presence of the atoms -- and strong Rydberg interactions -- demonstrated via the collective enhancement of Rydberg coupling in the atomic array -- can be achieved in our setup at the same spatial location. Our presented experimental platform opens the path to several new directions, including the realization of quantum network nodes, quantum simulation of long-range interacting, open quantum systems and photonic-state engineering leveraging high-fidelity Rydberg control.
We explore how recent advances in the manipulation of single-ion wave packets open new avenues for detecting weak magnetic fields sourced by ultralight dark matter. A trapped ion in a “Schrödinger’s cat” state can be prepared with its spin and motional degrees of freedom entangled and be used as a matter-wave interferometer that is sensitive to the Aharonov-Bohm-like phase shift accumulated by the ion over its trajectory. The result of the spin-motion entanglement is a parametrically enhanced sensitivity to weak magnetic fields as compared with an unentangled ion in a trap. Taking into account the relevant boundary conditions, we demonstrate that a single trapped ion can probe unexplored regions of kinetically mixed dark-photon dark matter parameter space in the 10 − 15 eV ≲ m A ′ ≲ 10 − 14 eV mass window. We also show how such a table-top quantum device will also serve as a complementary probe of axionlike particle dark matter in the same mass window.
Recent developments in the study of ultracold Rydberg gases demand an advanced level of experimental sophistication, in which high atomic and optical densities must be combined with excellent control of external fields and sensitive Rydberg atom detection. We describe a tailored experimental system used to produce and study Rydberg-interacting atoms excited from dense ultracold atomic gases. The experiment has been optimized for fast duty cycles using a high flux cold atom source and a three beam optical dipole trap. The latter enables tuning of the atomic density and temperature over several orders of magnitude, all the way to the Bose-Einstein condensation transition. An electrode structure surrounding the atoms allows for precise control over electric fields and single-particle sensitive field ionization detection of Rydberg atoms. We review two experiments which highlight the influence of strong Rydberg-Rydberg interactions on different many-body systems. First, the Rydberg blockade effect is used to pre-structure an atomic gas prior to its spontaneous evolution into an ultracold plasma. Second, hybrid states of photons and atoms called dark-state polaritons are studied. By looking at the statistical distribution of Rydberg excited atoms we reveal correlations between dark-state polaritons. These experiments will ultimately provide a deeper understanding of many-body phenomena in strongly-interacting regimes, including the study of strongly-coupled plasmas and interfaces between atoms and light at the quantum level.