Axion dark matter detection using atomic transitions

Phys Rev Lett. 2014 Nov 14;113(20):201301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.201301. Epub 2014 Nov 14.

Abstract

Dark matter axions may cause transitions between atomic states that differ in energy by an amount equal to the axion mass. Such energy differences are conveniently tuned using the Zeeman effect. It is proposed to search for dark matter axions by cooling a kilogram-sized sample to millikelvin temperatures and count axion induced transitions using laser techniques. This appears to be an appropriate approach to axion dark matter detection in the 10^{-4} eV mass range.