Speaker
Description
In 1983, Pierre Sikivie developed an idea that would allow us to detect the conversion of an axion — one of the promising candidates for dark matter — into a photon. via the Inverse Primakoff effect. By constructing a cavity whose resonance frequency would be in tune with the axion frequency, we can increase the coupling between the electric field inside the cavity and the axion field by applying a magnetic field to the system, which would then allow us to drive and measure the presence of the axion through direct detection.
By utilizing a tripartite system comprised of a magnetic field resilient superconducting device, a microwave cavity, and an antiferromagnetic crystal, we aim to detect dark matter with an architecture akin to Pierre Sikivie’s, wihile also exploring the exotic electrodynamics associated with the axion by investigating topological axion insulators with a similar experimental setup. Here, we show the tunability of the cavity resonance frequency owing to the ultra strong coupling between the cavity and the magnetic crystal, as well as theoretical calculations for the magnetic modes dispersions exhibited from our topological materials.