Search for Axions and Dark Photons Using Single Molecule Magnets

TL;DR

This paper proposes using single molecule magnets as sensitive detectors for dark matter particles like axions and dark photons, leveraging their magnetic properties and energy release mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a novel detection approach combining chemistry, condensed matter physics, and particle physics to improve sensitivity to dark matter models.

Findings

Achieves over tenfold sensitivity improvement for dark photon detection.

Demonstrates potential for enhanced axion detection using dysprosium molecules.

Proposes a new experimental platform for dark matter searches.

Abstract

Molecular magnets, although analogous to familiar macroscopic magnets, offer a platform for next generation magnetic storage technologies with far higher data densities and prospective applications in quantum information science. When exposed to an external magnetic field, single molecule magnets enter a frustrated magnetic configuration that is exceptionally sensitive to low energy excitations. Energy deposited by a dark matter particle can trigger the relaxation of a metastable molecule, releasing Zeeman energy that subsequently propagates through neighboring molecules. This magnetic avalanche encodes the energy deposited in the initial excitation. By combining concepts from chemistry, condensed matter physics, and particle physics, we show that dysprosium and manganese molecules can achieve more than an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity to dark photon and QCD axion models, respectively, compared with existing detection methods.