New constraints on dark matter from superconducting nanowires

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.106.112005
• Publication Date: 2022-12-09T17:49:30Z
• Authors: Yonit Hochberg; Benjamin V. Lehmann; Ilya Charaev; Jeff Chiles; Marco Colangelo; Sae Woo Nam; Karl K. Berggren
• Keywords: Quantum Physics; 530 Physics; Condensed Matter - Superconductivity; FOS: Physical sciences; 10192 Physics Institute; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; High Energy Physics - Experiment; Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con); High Energy Physics - Phenomenology; High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex); High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph); 0103 physical sciences; 3106 Nuclear and High Energy Physics; Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

Superconducting nanowires, a mature technology originally developed for quantum sensing, can be used as a target and sensor with which to search for dark matter interactions with electrons. Here we report on a 180-hour measurement of a tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire device with a mass of 4.3 nanograms. We use this to place new constraints on dark matter--electron interactions, including the strongest terrestrial constraints to date on sub-MeV (sub-eV) dark matter that interacts with electrons via scattering (absorption) processes.<br/>5 pages + appendices, 5 figures. Matched published version<br/>