After 30 years of R&D, breakthrough announced in dark matter detection technology ...
From http://www.washington.edu/news/2018/04/09/admx-detection-technology/
After 30 years of R&D, breakthrough announced in dark matter detection technology, definitive search to begin for axion particles
UW News staff
April 9, 2018
Forty years ago, scientists theorized a new kind of low-mass particle that could solve one of the enduring mysteries of nature: what dark matter is made of. Now a new chapter in the search for that particle has begun.
This week, the
Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX) unveiled a new result, published in the journal
Physical Review Letters, that places it in a category of one: it is the worlds first and only experiment to have achieved the necessary sensitivity to hear the telltale signs of dark matter axions. This technological breakthrough is the result of more than 30 years of research and development, with the latest piece of the puzzle coming in the form of a quantum-enabled device that allows ADMX to listen for axions more closely than any experiment ever built.
ADMX is based at the University of Washington and managed by the U.S. Department of Energys Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. This new result, the first from the second-generation run of ADMX, sets limits on a small range of frequencies where axions may be hiding, and sets the stage for a wider search in the coming years.
This result signals the start of the true hunt for axions, said Fermilabs Andrew Sonnenschein, the operations manager for ADMX. If dark matter axions exist within the frequency band we will be probing for the next few years, then its only a matter of time before we find them.
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