Speaker
Dr
Young JIn Kim
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Description
Atomic magnetometers based on lasers and alkali-metal vapor cells are currently the most sensitive non-cryogenic magnetic-field sensors. Because of high sensitivity and simple turn-key operation, atomic magnetometers benefit many applications, including biomedical imaging and fundamental physics. In this talk, we will present the recent activities on dark matter and fundamental physics searches using atomic magnetometers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Our research has a great potential to address some of the biggest unsolved mysteries in modern physics – the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe and the existence of dark matter making up more than 80% of matter in the Universe. Our experiments aim to search for new fundamental bosons, such as axions, at light masses lower than meV. They use new detection concepts based on atomic magnetometers via observable effects induced by new bosons coupled with Standard Model particles. These include the detection of (1) effective magnetic field induced by exotic interactions between particles mediated by new bosons; (2) oscillating magnetic field induced by the interaction between axions and magnetic fields. Due to the use of atomic magnetometers, our experiments are relatively small projects at low cost.
Primary author
Dr
Young JIn Kim
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Co-authors
Mr
Algis Urbaitis
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Dr
Igor Savukov
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Dr
Leanne Duffy
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Dr
Ping-Han Chu
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Mr
Shaun Newman
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
