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  • Open Access

Maximizing quantum enhancement in axion dark matter experiments

Chao-Lin Kuo1,2, Chelsea L. Bartram2, Aaron S. Chou3, Taj A. Dyson1, Noah A. Kurinsky2, Gray Rybka4, Sephora Ruppert1, Osmond Wen1,5, Matthew O. Withers1 et al.

Andrew K. Yi2 and Cheng Zhang1

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Phys. Rev. D 111, 123018 – Published 10 June, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pgtg-3lhd

Abstract

We provide a comprehensive comparison of linear amplifiers and microwave photon counters in axion dark matter experiments. The study is done assuming a range of realistic operating conditions and detector parameters, over the frequency range between 1 and 30 GHz. As expected, photon counters are found to be advantageous under low background, at high frequencies (ν>5  GHz), if they can be implemented with robust wide-frequency tuning or a very low dark count rate. Additional noteworthy observations emerging from this study include: (1) an expanded applicability of off-resonance photon background reduction, including the single-quadrature state squeezing, for scan rate enhancements; (2) a much broader appeal for operating the haloscope resonators in the overcoupling regime, up to β∼10; (3) the need for a detailed investigation into the cryogenic and electromagnetic conditions inside haloscope cavities to lower the photon temperature for future experiments; (4) the necessity to develop a distributed network of coupling ports in high-volume axion haloscopes to utilize these potential gains in the scan rate.

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Phys. Rev. D 111, 123018– Published 10 June, 2025
  • Received 9 February 2025
  • Accepted 22 May 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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