Generation and detection of axions using guided structures

TL;DR

This paper introduces a laser-based experimental method using guided structures to generate and detect axions across a broad mass range, promising high sensitivity in laboratory settings.

Contribution

It proposes a novel technique employing four-wave mixing in waveguides to generate and detect axions, including the concept of guided axion waves called 'axitons.'

Findings

Predicts existence of guided axion waves ('axitons') in waveguides.

Estimates detection sensitivity of 10^{-12} GeV^{-1} for axion-photon coupling.

Demonstrates broad axion mass range (10^{-6} to 10^{-2} eV) can be scanned.

Abstract

We propose a new experimental technique to generate and detect axions in the lab with a good experimental sensitivity over a broad axion mass range. The scheme relies on using laser-based four-wave mixing, which is mediated by the hypothetical axion field. Intense pump and Stokes laser beams that are confined to a waveguide (i.e., for example, an optical fiber) with appropriately chosen frequencies resonantly drive axion generation. Under such a geometry, we predict the existence of guided axion waves, which we refer to as "axitons". These are solutions of the axion Klein-Gordon field equation that are spatially guided by the profiles of the driving pump and Stokes laser beams. These guided axitons can then couple to a nearby fiber and mix with another laser, affecting the propagation of a probe laser beam. A key advantage of the scheme is that the mass range of the hypothetical axion can be scanned by varying the frequencies of the pump and the Stokes laser beams. We predict that, using reasonable parameters, the technique will be able to detect axions in the mass range $10^{-6} $eV $< m<$ $10^{-2} $eV with a sensitivity at the level of $10^{-12}$ GeV$^{-1}$ for the axion-photon coupling constant.