A Rotating-Wave Comagnetometer Detector for Particle Physics

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Rotating Wave comagnetometer, a novel detector that suppresses magnetic noise and enhances sensitivity, enabling advanced searches for new particles and forces related to dark matter and beyond Standard Model physics.

Contribution

The paper presents the design and analysis of the RoW comagnetometer, a new technique that improves detection sensitivity for particle physics experiments by reducing magnetic noise at tunable frequencies.

Findings

Significantly suppresses magnetic noise at tunable frequencies

Enhances sensitivity to axion-like particles and new forces

Enables exploration of higher mass dark matter models

Abstract

Many extensions of the Standard Model propose the existence of new particles or forces, aiming to answer mysteries such as the identity of the elusive dark matter. Atomic-based detectors are at the forefront of technologies designed to search for these particles or forces through their couplings to fermions, enabling the testing of well-motivated models, such as axion-like particles, which could form dark matter. These detectors also probe new long-range interactions between the detectors and spin-polarized objects, as well as interactions mediated by light particles that break CP symmetry, introducing a coupling between the detector and an unpolarized object. However, the sensitivity of these detectors is often constrained by magnetic noise, limiting their effectiveness to a narrow region of parameter space. We propose and develop a technique, which we name the Rotating Wave comagnetometer (RoW comag), that can suppress magnetic noise at tunable frequencies while maintaining high sensitivity to target signals, significantly expanding the potential reach of these detectors. We analyze its operation for testing various extensions to the Standard Model and show how it could improve current sensitivities by several orders of magnitude. This work paves the way for a new class of tabletop experiments aimed at searching for new physics, including the exploration of well-motivated axion-like particle dark matter models at higher masses than previously attainable.