Study sets new limits on dark photons using new dielectric optical haloscope
The dark matter field of dark photons transforms into photons in a layered dielectric target. These photons are focused by the lens onto a small, low-noise SNSPD detector. The light emitted from the stack is approximately uniform except for a small region in the center where the mirror is absent. Credit: Chiles et al. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Perimeter Institute recently set new limits on dark photons, which are hypothetical particles and well-known candidates for dark matter. Their findings, presented in a paper published in Physical Review Letter This was achieved using the new superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) they developed. “There is close collaboration between our research groups at NIST and MIT, run by Dr. Sae Woo Nam and Prof. Karl Berggren, respectively,” Jeff Chiles, one of the researchers who carried o