Denys Wilkinson Building, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH
Dr Elizabeth Leason
University of Oxford
Abstract
The QUEST-DMC experiment aims to utilise superfluid He-3 instrumented with quantum sensors to access sub-GeV dark matter parameter space. The experiment will have a superfluid He-3 target, operated below 100 microKelvin, contained in cubic cells instrumented with nanomechanical resonators which are read out using SQUIDs. Superfluid He-3 is a unique system for dark matter searches, with the potential to probe spin-dependent interactions and reach energy thresholds below the eV scale. I will discuss recent developments in nanowire fabrication, bolometric measurements, quantum sensor readout and photon detection. Simulations of the backgrounds, response model and readout noise, along with the resulting projected dark matter sensitivity, will also be presented.