2026/07/21 by Christopher Albert, Lanqing Yuan, Jacob Harris +13
#hep-ex #astro-ph.IM #quant-ph
Many well-motivated dark matter models predict meV-scale energy deposits in interactions with terrestrial experiments, but this regime is challenging to probe due to a lack of mature single-quantum detectors. Here we report results from QUALIPHIDE (QUAntum LImited PHotons In the Dark Experiment), a cryogenic dark matter search using a 41-pixel array of energy-resolving microwave kinetic inductance detectors with a 13 meV threshold, simultaneously used to look for both conversion photons from THz wavelength hidden photon dark matter and phonons from particle-like light dark matter interactions. The experimental design, with on- and off-focus pixels for the hidden photon search, allows for a data-driven background model, giving the experiment discovery potential. A blind analysis of 22 hours of data shows no significant excess, setting the strongest constraints on the hidden photon kinetic mixing parameter χ over the mass range of 13-90 meV/c2, reaching 1.5×10-12 at 50 meV/c2. These data also yield among the first terrestrial limits on dark matter scattering off nuclei and electrons, down to 5 MeV/c2 and 20 keV/c2, respectively. The low threshold also enables future study of the low-energy excess limiting cryogenic detectors and, as we project, will allow for a terahertz-scale QCD axion search with a magnetic field.