11–13 May 2026
Roma
Europe/Rome timezone

Photon counting in axion haloscopes

12 May 2026, 15:45
25m
Roma

Roma

Centro Congressi d'Ateneo, Via Salaria 113, 00198 Roma

Speaker

Caterina Braggio (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)

Description

The interaction with the electromagnetic field is the most exploited in haloscopes, detectors where axions are resonantly converted into photons in the presence of an intense magnetic field. Some models also predict interaction with electron spin, which can be probed using a ferrimagnetic haloscope. In this detector, hypothetical particles are converted into magnons in a material with specific magnetic properties. These excitations are observable through a transduction process occurring in the strong coupling regime between the magnetization mode and the photon mode of a microwave cavity, where magnetic excitations give rise to photons in the photon mode.
In my contribution, I will discuss how the use of quantum sensors allows for significant improvement in the sensitivity of these experiments with both empty cavities and cavities hosting magnetic materials.
I will start by briefly reporting the results of a recent pathfinder experiment, where a transmon-based single microwave photon detector (SMPD), developed within the Quantronics group in Saclay, was used to read an axion-photon haloscope under 2T in a narrow frequency range.
The discussion will then expand on the use of this sensor in experiments with hybrid systems over broader bands, describing the ferrimagnetic haloscope that we have developed to match the frequency of the next-generation sensor.

Co-authors:
Danho Ahn, Patrice Bertet, Giovanni Carugno, Raffaele Di Vora, Maiello Dora, Emmanuel Flurin, Alexandre May, Antonello Ortolan, Giuseppe Ruoso, Giosue' Sardo Infirri

Author

Caterina Braggio (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)

Co-author

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