Rydberg Single Photon Detection for Probing 0.1-10 meV Dark Matter with BREAD

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel Rydberg-based single photon detector designed to detect dark matter particles in the 0.1-10 meV mass range by converting photon interactions into detectable electrons, enabling new dark matter searches.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new Rydberg-based single photon detector tailored for dark matter detection in the meV energy range, utilizing photon absorption and ionization techniques.

Findings

Effective photon-to-electron conversion demonstrated

Detects dark matter-induced photons in the 0.1-10 meV range

Potential for sensitive dark matter probing in THz frequencies

Abstract

We introduce a Rydberg-based single photon detector (SPD) for probing dark matter in the 0.1-10 meV mass range (20 GHz-2 THz). The Rydberg SPD absorbs photons produced and focused by the BREAD dish antenna and trades them for free, detectable electrons. At the lower end of the mass range, photons drive Rydberg-Rydberg transitions, which are read out via state-selective ionization. At higher masses, they directly ionize the Rydberg atoms.