- Accepted Paper
Coherent collective response in many-qubit systems for dark matter detection
Phys. Rev. D - Accepted 3 November, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vztf-s6t6
Phys. Rev. D - Accepted 3 November, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vztf-s6t6
We propose an array of Ramsey-type interferometers using superposition states, , as a sensor to detect wave-like dark matter. After exposure to the dark matter wave, which induces coherent qubit transitions, the signal is the imbalance between the numbers of 0 and 1 outcomes. The signal-to-noise ratio in this scheme is proportional to , where is the coupling of dark matter to the qubits, and thus the sensitivity to the coupling scales as . For comparison, in the detection scheme based on the Rabi-type transition, , this scaling is achieved only when highly entangled qubits are used. Since the Ramsey-type measurement does not require entangled states, one can consider much larger by simply placing a large number of qubits within the de Broglie wavelength of the dark matter. We show that, using trapped-ion qubits in linear Paul traps as the sensor, the projected sensitivity to the coupling can match or surpass existing laboratory, astrophysical, and cosmological bounds for . We also evaluate its sensitivity to high-frequency gravitational waves. Our general framework should, in principle, be useful for other quantum sensing platforms.
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