Axion wind detection with the homogeneous precession domain of superfluid helium-3

TL;DR

This paper proposes using the homogeneous precession domain of superfluid helium-3 to detect axion wind effects, offering broadband sensitivity and competitive performance at low axion masses through precision frequency measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a novel detection method utilizing superfluid helium-3's homogeneous precession domain for axion wind detection, enabling broadband and sensitive measurements.

Findings

Potential for broadband axion mass detection

Competitive sensitivity below 10^{-7} eV

Utilizes precision frequency metrology for improved sensitivity

Abstract

Axions and axion-like particles may couple to nuclear spins like a weak oscillating effective magnetic field, the "axion wind." Existing proposals for detecting the axion wind sourced by dark matter exploit analogies to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and aim to detect the small transverse field generated when the axion wind resonantly tips the precessing spins in a polarized sample of material. We describe a new proposal using the homogeneous precession domain (HPD) of superfluid helium-3 as the detection medium, where the effect of the axion wind is a small shift in the precession frequency of a large-amplitude NMR signal. We argue that this setup can provide broadband detection of multiple axion masses simultaneously, and has competitive sensitivity to other axion wind experiments such as CASPEr-Wind at masses below $10^{-7}$ eV by exploiting precision frequency metrology in the readout stage.