DANCE: Dark matter Axion search with riNg Cavity Experiment

TL;DR

The paper proposes a novel optical ring cavity method to detect axion dark matter by measuring phase velocity differences between photon polarizations, promising significant sensitivity improvements over current limits.

Contribution

It introduces the DANCE experiment, a new approach using ring cavities to search for axion dark matter, with detailed principles and prototype status.

Findings

Sensitivity to axion-photon coupling constant $g_{a \, ext{γ}}$ can be improved by several orders of magnitude.

The prototype experiment DANCE Act-1 demonstrates the feasibility of the method.

The approach targets axion masses $m \, \lesssim 10^{-10}$ eV.

Abstract

We have proposed a new approach to search for axion dark matter with an optical ring cavity [Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 161301 (2018)]. The coupling of photons to axions or axion-like particles makes a modulated difference in the phase velocity between left- and right-handed photons. Our method is to measure this phase velocity difference with a ring cavity, by measuring the resonant frequency difference between two circular polarizations. Our estimation shows that the sensitivity to axion-photon coupling constant $g_{a \gamma}$ for axion mass $m \lesssim 10^{-10}$ eV can be improved by several orders of magnitude compared with the current best limits. In this paper, we present the principles of the Dark matter Axion search with riNg Cavity Experiment (DANCE) and the status of the prototype experiment, DANCE Act-1.