Searching for scalar field dark matter with hyperfine transitions in alkali atoms

18 October 2022

Photo: adapted from PRD 107, 015008 (2023)

The nature of dark matter is one of the largest unsolved problems in modern physics and precision measurements with cold atoms might be able to detect candidate dark matter particles. Ultralight scalar field dark matter is expected to cause oscillations in fundamental constants that could be detected e.g. as frequency oscillations in atomic clocks. If the mass of the dark matter particle is higher, causing oscillations in the MHz or GHz regime, it could also drive hyperfine excitations in cold alkali atoms. In a new work with colleagues from the University of New South Wales, we propose such an experiment and calculate the achievable sensitivity to the coupling of the dark matter particle to visible matter.

V. V. Flambaum, A. J. Mansour, I. B. Samsonov, C. Weitenberg, Searching for scalar field dark matter with hyperfine transitions in alkali atoms, Phys. Rev. D 107, 015008 (2023)