QMSI is proud to announce a collaboration with MADMAX (Magnetized Disk and Mirror Axion eXperiment) to search for axion dark matter. QMSI’s Kin Chung Fong, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics, as an associate member of MADMAX, will be leading an effort to develop a quantum sensing technology – a graphene-based single-photon detector – to be implemented in the MADMAX experiment.
The MADMAX experiment is an ambitious endeavor to search for axions, which are particles that arise in theoretical physics models and would explain multiple mysteries in high-energy particle physics and cosmology. Axions would solve the strong CP problem in quantum chromodynamics, provide a leading candidate for dark matter, and may play a role in early universe physics. Axions are thus at the nexus of multiple fundamental questions in particle physics and cosmology – however, even though the axion was theoretically proposed in 1977, no experiment has unequivocally verified its existence.
The MADMAX experiment aims to advance the search for axions by leveraging a dielectric haloscope which utilizes several parallel, adjustable-separation dielectric layers in a strong magnetic field. If the axion theoretical model is correct, such a configuration should produce photons from axion-photon conversion in the 10-100 GHz frequency range, with the frequency depending on axion mass.
The MADMAX collaboration brings together cutting-edge quantum sensing and high-energy physics to search for the elusive axion. Under the leadership of Professor Fong, QMSI is leading the development of a novel graphene-based single-photon detector capable of registering individual microwave photons. This work exemplifies how QMSI scientists are transforming discoveries in quantum materials into innovative quantum sensors to address pressing challenges at the frontiers of science.
*In featured photo: MADMAX – RADES collaboration meeting pictured at Rindberg Castle in Bavarian Alps, Germany. Professor Fong is standing 8th from left in the 3rd row.