Sensitivity of a closed dielectric haloscope to axion dark matter

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple, computationally efficient model to evaluate the sensitivity of dielectric haloscopes for axion dark matter detection, accounting for realistic imperfections and noise, demonstrated with MADMAX prototype data.

Contribution

It presents a novel minimal-resource model for predicting dielectric haloscope sensitivity, facilitating future large-scale axion searches with improved accuracy.

Findings

Model accurately describes electromagnetic response of haloscope

Successfully applied to MADMAX prototype data

Supports future large-scale axion detection efforts

Abstract

We present a method to determine the sensitivity of a closed dielectric haloscope to axion dark matter. Dielectric haloscopes aim to probe the theoretically well-motivated axion mass range of ~26 $\mathrm{\mu}$eV to ~500 $\mathrm{\mu}$eV by utilizing a stack of dielectric disks and a mirror to enhance the axion-photon conversion within an external magnetic field. Their conversion volume is nearly axion-mass independent, thereby favoring large-scale designs to increase sensitivity. The large volume causes simulations to be computationally expensive and time-consuming. This paper presents a simple model that can be used to determine the sensitivity of the experiment with minimal computational resources. The model is able to describe the electromagnetic response of a closed dielectric haloscope, accounting for realistic geometric imperfections, as well as the noise introduced by the receiver system. It is applied to data taken with a MAgnetized Disk and Mirror Axion Experiment (MADMAX) prototype within the 1.6 T Morpurgo magnet at CERN. This work underpins the first axion dark matter search using a dielectric haloscope and provides the foundation for future dark matter searches with MADMAX.