Speaker
Description
We present the design, status and first results of a detector to search for axions and axion-like particles in the galactic halo using laser interferometry. The detector is sensitive to the polarisation rotation of linearly polarised light induced by an axion field in the mass range from $10^{−16}$ $eV$ up to $10^{−8}$ $eV$, and is likely to significantly surpass the CAST limit. Currently, we search Axion masses at $2$ $neV$ at sensitivities of $10^{-10}$ $GeV^{-1}$ with unprecedented resonant intensities of $4.5$ $MW/cm^{2}$. The inclusion of squeezed states of light will increase our sensitivities further. Our experiment has the potential to be further scaled up to a multi-kilometre long detector, and to then set constraints of the axion-photon coupling coefficient of $10^{−18}$ $GeV^{-1}$ for axion masses of $10^{−16}$ $eV$, or detect a signal.
| Collaboration / Activity | University of Birmingham |
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