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Nuclear interferometer for ultralight dark matter detection

Hannah Banks1,2,*, Elina Fuchs1,3,4,5, and Matthew McCullough1

  • *Contact author: hannah.banks@nyu.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 015023 – Published 16 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ntb7-6w5g

Abstract

We propose the nuclear interferometer—a single-photon interferometry experiment based upon the thorium-229 nuclear clock transition—as a novel detector for ultralight dark matter. Thanks to the enhanced sensitivity of this transition to the variation of fundamental constants, we find that possible realizations of such an experiment deploying either single ions or clouds of atoms have the potential to complement advanced very-long-baseline terrestrial clock atom interferometers in the search for ultralight dark matter with scalar couplings to photons in the future. Nuclear interferometry may also offer an unparalleled window to new physics coupling to the QCD sector via quarks or gluons, with a discovery reach that could enhance existing and proposed experiments over a range of frequencies in the direction of well-motivated parameter space.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 015023– Published 16 July, 2026
  • Received 6 December 2024
  • Accepted 24 February 2026
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