First mechanical realization of a tunable dielectric haloscope for the MADMAX axion search experiment

TL;DR

This paper reports the first successful mechanical implementation of a tunable dielectric haloscope prototype for the MADMAX axion search, demonstrating precise disk positioning in high magnetic fields and cryogenic temperatures.

Contribution

It presents the design, construction, and testing of a prototype dielectric disk for MADMAX, validating its mechanical feasibility under experimental conditions.

Findings

Disk positioning accuracy meets MADMAX requirements

Prototype functions reliably in high magnetic fields

Cryogenic testing confirms mechanical stability

Abstract

MADMAX, a future experiment to search for axion dark matter, is based on a novel detection concept called the dielectric haloscope. It consists of a booster composed of several dielectric disks positioned with $\mu$m precision. A prototype composed of one movable disk was built to demonstrate the mechanical feasibility of such a booster in the challenging environment of the experiment: high magnetic field to convert the axions into photons and cryogenic temperature to reduce the thermal noise. It was tested both inside a strong magnetic field up to 1.6 T and at cryogenic temperatures down to 35K. The measurements of the velocity and positioning accuracy of the disk are shown and are found to match the MADMAX requirements.