Quantum metrology has recently emerged as a powerful approach for dark matter (DM) searches, particularly using nonclassical bosonic states in microwave cavities that are sensitive to weak signals. Nonclassical cat states-macroscopic superpositions of coherent states featuring sub-Planck interference structures-offer promising advantages for high-precision measurements. However, their practical utility in DM search remains unexplored. Here, we report the first experimental application of four-component cat states within a high-quality superconducting microwave cavity to search for dark photons, a potential DM candidate. We demonstrate an 8.1-fold enhancement in the signal photon rate and constrain the dark photon kinetic mixing angle to an unprecedented ε<7.32×10^{-16} near 6.44 GHz (26.6 μeV). By employing a parametric sideband drive to actively tune the cavity frequency, we achieve dark photon searches and background subtraction across multiple frequency bins, yielding a sensitivity at the 10^{-16} level within a 100 kHz bandwidth. Our cat-assisted DM search and frequency-scanning techniques demonstrate substantial improvements over previous results, promising potential implications in quantum-enhanced searches for new physics.
Quantum metrology has recently emerged as a powerful approach for dark matter (DM) searches, particularly using nonclassical bosonic states in microwave cavities that are sensitive to weak signals. Nonclassical cat states-macroscopic superpositions of coherent states featuring sub-Planck interference structures-offer promising advantages for high-precision measurements. However, their practical utility in DM search remains unexplored. Here, we report the first experimental application of four-component cat states within a high-quality superconducting microwave cavity to search for dark photons, a potential DM candidate. We demonstrate an 8.1-fold enhancement in the signal photon rate and constrain the dark photon kinetic mixing angle to an unprecedented ε<7.32×10^{-16} near 6.44 GHz (26.6 μeV). By employing a parametric sideband drive to actively tune the cavity frequency, we achieve dark photon searches and background subtraction across multiple frequency bins, yielding a sensitivity at the 10^{-16} level within a 100 kHz bandwidth. Our cat-assisted DM search and frequency-scanning techniques demonstrate substantial improvements over previous results, promising potential implications in quantum-enhanced searches for new physics.
The manipulation of quantum states of light has resulted in significant advancements in both dark matter searches and gravitational wave detectors. Current dark matter searches operating in the microwave frequency range use nearly quantum-limited amplifiers. Future high frequency searches will use photon counting techniques to evade the standard quantum limit. We present a signal enhancement technique that utilizes a superconducting qubit to prepare a superconducting microwave cavity in a nonclassical Fock state and stimulate the emission of a photon from a dark matter wave. By initializing the cavity in an |n=4⟩ Fock state, we demonstrate a quantum enhancement technique that increases the signal photon rate and hence also the dark matter scan rate each by a factor of 2.78. Using this technique, we conduct a dark photon search in a band around 5.965 GHz (24.67 μeV), where the kinetic mixing angle ε≥4.35×10^{-13} is excluded at the 90% confidence level.
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.
We present a quantum-enhanced search for the Galactic dark-photon background (GDPB), a relativistic and anisotropic vector field that can be produced by dark-matter decay or annihilation in the Milky Way halo. We reinterpret an existing quantum-enhanced dark-photon dataset obtained with a superconducting circuit QED platform originally developed for wave-like dark-photon dark-matter searches, consisting of a high-Q niobium cavity in the TM010 mode dispersively coupled to a transmon qubit. By preparing four-component cat states and performing repeated quantum non-demolition parity measurements, analyzed with a hidden Markov model, we extract photon-transition probabilities for multiple cat amplitudes and integration times. The coupling to the GDPB is governed by a polarization- and angle-dependent cavity overlap function, which predicts a distinctive diurnal modulation of the excitation rate for both longitudinal and transverse polarizations. From the absence of such modulation, we set 90\% confidence-level bounds on the kinetic-mixing parameter ε for two benchmark production mechanisms (parametric and cascade decay) over the relativistic mass range mX≪ωc.
We report on an improved microwave detection protocol for dark matter candidates such as the axion and the dark photon. We employ a superconducting transmon qubit dispersively coupled to a double-cavity system, enabling quantum non-demolition measurements of the photon occupation in a relatively short-lived storage cavity. To reduce the experimental cycle time and enhance sensitivity for axion and dark-photon searches, we operate this detector in a regime of increased qubit-cavity coupling, resulting in Stark shifts of 4.6 MHz. In this regime, conventional control pulses suffer from strong frequency-detuning sensitivity and photon-number-dependent errors. We address this limitation by implementing frequency-detuning-robust π/2 pulses (obtained by machine-learning optimization) that preserve high-fidelity qubit control over a bandwidth of approximately 20 MHz. We experimentally validate this protocol and demonstrate single-photon detection performance comparable to previous implementations, despite significantly reduced qubit coherence times and storage-cavity lifetimes. Using parity-based measurement sequences combined with a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) analysis, we achieve background rates on the order of O(20) Hz. In the absence of a magnetic field, we derive exclusion limits on the dark photon model for dark matter, reaching a sensitivity to the kinetic mixing angle of ε95%∼1×10−14 at 5.051 GHz. These results establish machine-learning robust control as a key enabler for faster, more scalable microwave quantum sensors for dark-matter searches.
One of the areas of research of the Superconducting Quantum Systems and Materials (SQMS) center is the application of quantum sensing to fundamental physics searches, demonstrating that quantum sensors can greatly improve the sensitivity of experiments searching for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, or performing high-precision measurements. Theorists have developed many ideas for BSM physics that would result in interactions that can in principle be detected, but with signals small enough that they haven t been observed yet. In this field, the capability to lower the detector s thermal noise to few or dozens of mK, and to use QIS technologies such as Josephson Parametric Amplifiers and photon counters (in-situ or itinerant) enable us to reach unprecedented sensitivities and faster scan rates. Here is presented an overview of the quantum sensing efforts at SQMS [1], focusing on theoretical advancements and experimental searches for Dark Sector particles (as dark matter candidates and not), gravitational waves, and precision measurements. The experiments conducted, or under preparation, include axion dark matter (DM) [2, 3], dark photon DM searches [4,5], light-shining-through-wall experiments [6], cavity-based searches for high frequency gravitational waves [7], and measurements of the electron magnetic moment [8]. [1] Berlin, A., et al. "Searches for new particles, dark matter, and gravitational waves with SRF cavities." arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.12714 (2022). [2] Giaccone, B., et al. "Design of axion and axion dark matter searches based on ultra high Q SRF cavities." arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.11346 (2022). [3] Braggio, C., et al. "Quantum-enhanced sensing of axion dark matter with a transmon-based single microwave photon counter." arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.02321 (2024). [4] Fan, X., et al. "One-electron quantum cyclotron as a milli-eV dark-photon detector." Physical review letters 129.26 (2022): 261801. [5] Cervantes, R., et al. "Deepest sensitivity to wavelike dark photon dark matter with superconducting radio frequency cavities." Physical Review D 110.4 (2024): 043022. [6] Romanenko, A., et al. "Search for dark photons with superconducting radio frequency cavities." Physical review letters 130.26 (2023): 261801. [7] Berlin, A., et al. "Electromagnetic cavities as mechanical bars for gravitational waves." Physical Review D 108.8 (2023): 084058. [8] Fan, X., et al. "Measurement of the electron magnetic moment." Physical review letters 130.7 (2023): 071801.