2024/10/22 by R. Linehan, Linehan, Ryan, Tanner Trickle +11 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2410.17308
openalex publication_date 2024/10/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We present a novel application of a qubit-coupled phonon detector to search for new physics, e.g., ultralight dark matter (DM) and high-frequency gravitational waves. The detector, motivated by recent advances in quantum acoustics, is composed of superconducting transmon qubits coupled to high-overtone bulk acoustic resonators (ℎBARs) and operates in the GHz−10 GHz frequency range. New physics can excite 𝒪(10 μeV) phonons within the ℎBAR, which are then converted to qubit excitations via a transducer. We detail the design, operation, backgrounds, and expected sensitivity of a prototype detector, as well as a next-generation detector optimized for new physics signals. We find that a future detector can complement current haloscope experiments in the search for both dark photon DM and high-frequency gravitational waves. Lastly, we comment on such a detector's ability to operate as a 𝒪(10 μeV) athermal phonon sensor for sub-GeV DM detection.