Axion Dark Matter Experiment: Detailed design and operations

• Published in: Review of scientific instruments Vol. 92; no. 12; pp. 124502 - 124520
• Main Authors: Khatiwada, R., Bowring, D., Chou, A. S., Sonnenschein, A., Wester, W., Mitchell, D. V., Braine, T., Bartram, C., Cervantes, R., Crisosto, N., Du, N., Rosenberg, L. J., Rybka, G., Yang, J., Will, D., Kimes, S., Carosi, G., Woollett, N., Durham, S., Duffy, L. D., Bradley, R., Boutan, C., Jones, M., LaRoque, B. H., Oblath, N. S., Taubman, M. S., Tedeschi, J., Clarke, John, Dove, A., Hashim, A., Siddiqi, I., Stevenson, N., Eddins, A., O’Kelley, S. R., Nawaz, S., Agrawal, A., Dixit, A. V., Gleason, J. R., Jois, S., Sikivie, P., Sullivan, N. S., Tanner, D. B., Solomon, J. A., Lentz, E., Daw, E. J., Perry, M. G., Buckley, J. H., Harrington, P. M., Henriksen, E. A., Murch, K. W., Hilton, G. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Institute of Physics 01.12.2021
• Subjects: Dark matter; Dilution; Experiments; Low noise; Noise; Noise temperature; Parametric amplifiers; Scientific apparatus & instruments; Sensitivity; Superconducting quantum interference devices
• ISSN: 0034-6748; 1089-7623; 1089-7623
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0037857

Axion dark matter experiment ultra-low noise haloscope technology has enabled the successful completion of two science runs (1A and 1B) that looked for dark matter axions in the 2.66–3.1 μeV mass range with Dine–Fischler–Srednicki–Zhitnisky sensitivity [Du et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 151301 (2018) and Braine et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 101303 (2020)]. Therefore, it is the most sensitive axion search experiment to date in this mass range. We discuss the technological advances made in the last several years to achieve this sensitivity, which includes the implementation of components, such as the state-of-the-art quantum-noise-limited amplifiers and a dilution refrigerator. Furthermore, we demonstrate the use of a frequency tunable microstrip superconducting quantum interference device amplifier in run 1A, and a Josephson parametric amplifier in run 1B, along with novel analysis tools that characterize the system noise temperature.