Dark photons are one of the promising candidates of light dark matter and could be detected by using their interaction with standard model particles via kinetic mixings. Here, we propose a feasible approach to detect the dark photons by nondestructively probing these mixing-induced quantum state transitions of atomic ensembles. Specifically, we show that the dark photons, in both centimeter- and millimeter-wave bands, could be detected by using the artificial atomic ensemble detector, generated by surface-state electrons on liquid helium. It is estimated that, with the detectable transition probability of ${10}^{-4}$, the experimental surface state of $N={10}^8$ trapped electrons might provide a feasible approach to search for the dark photons in $18.61–82.71\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$ and $496.28–909.84\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$ mass ranges, within about five months. The confidence level can exceed 95% for the achievable sensitivities, i.e., the value of the kinetic mixing parameter between dark photons and ordinary photons, being ${10}^{-14}–{10}^{-13}$ and ${10}^{-12}–{10}^{-11}$, respectively. In principle, the proposal could also be applied to the other atomic ensemble detections of dark photons in the other frequency bands.

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