Speaker
Description
The axion is a hypothetical pseudoscalar particle that arises from the Peccei-Quinn solution for the strong CP problem and simultaneously be a strong candidate for dark matter. Recent early-universe simulations for the post-inflation scenario have indicated a preference for a higher mass corresponding to above 10 GHz. This has motivated efforts to probe this high frequency regime that traditional cavity haloscope have a diminished sensitivity in, due to reduced resonant volume at these frequencies. The plasma haloscope offers a promising alternative to traditional haloscopes and consists of a periodic arrangement of conducting wires whose inter-wire spacing controls the frequency. Tuning the frequency requires changing the inter-wire spacing and can require mechanically complex structures to ensure simultaneous and consistent spacing of all the wires. In this talk I will present a novel tuning mechanism based on spiral geometry and show the simulation and experimental results as well as its potential implementation in the ALPHA experiment.
