Searching for axion dark matter with on-chip single magnon detectors

Yi Li, Gensheng Wang, Clarence Chang, Valentine Novosad, Tim Hobbs, Zain Saleem

Argonne National Laboratory

​

Dafei Jin

University of Notre Dame

​

Tanner Trickle

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

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DOE HEP QuantISED 2.0

2026 CWODS, UC Riverside

6/30-7/2, 2026

Outline

• 1. Introduction & motivation
• 2. Detector implementation and quantum detection protocol
• 3. Factors for sensitivity improvement

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Phys. Rev. D 113,015016 (2026)

Hybrid quantum magnonics

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Spin

Spin ensembles

Magnon

1 μ_B

10¹⁵-10¹⁸ μ_B/cm³

10²² μ_B/cm³

Strong

dipoles

Weak

dipole

Kurizki, et al. PNAS 112, 3866 (2015)

Why hybrid system:

• Multitask with complementary functionality
• Leverage advantages from different materias

Magnon-photon coupling

Magnon-qubit entanglement

Wesenberg, PRL 2009

Imamoglu, PRL 2009

Soykal & Flatté, PRL 2010

Zhang, PRL 2014

Tabuchi, PRL 2014

Tabuchi Science 2015

D. Lachance-Quirion, Science 2020

Hybrid quantum system

Magnons for dark matter detection

4

QUAX-aγ Haloscope (35-60 μeV, 8-15 GHz)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 124,171801 (2020)

Phys. Rev. D 103, 102004 (2021)

ADMX (2-8 μeV, 0.5-2 GHz)

axion-photon coupling

axion-electron coupling

QUAX-ae Haloscope (40-60 μeV, 10-15 GHz)

Frequency: mechanical cavity tuning

Frequency: Magnetic field tuning

Magnon-DM interaction:

• Provide a new mechanism for probing spin-dependent SM-DM interaction

Quantum non-demolition (QND) detection

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 124,171801 (2020)

QUAX-ae

QND-detection (this work)

Thermal photon population:

Phys. Rev. D 113,015016 (2026)

Outline

• 1. Introduction & motivation
• 2. Detector implementation and quantum detection protocol
• 3. Factors for sensitivity improvement

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Superconducting cavity magnonics

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Y. Li, et al. PRL 128, 047701 (2022)

M. Song, et al. Nature Comm., 16, 3649 (2025)

Si substrate

NbN resonator

NbN resonator

YIG sphere

2g

Photon

Magnon

(YIG)

Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ (YIG): Long magnon coherence time

Before YIG mounting

After YIG mounting

250 μm

Electron-on-neon qubit integration

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X. Zhou, et al. Nature 605, 46 (2022)

X. Zhou, et al. Nature Phys. 20, 116 (2023)

Magnon-qubit detector

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D=500 μm

Phys. Rev. D 113,015016 (2026)

Readout protocol

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Dispersive magnon-qubit coupling

Readout protocol

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Single-shot magnon readout

Phys. Rev. D 113,015016 (2026)

Outline

• 1. Introduction & motivation
• 2. Detector implementation and quantum detection protocol
• 3. Factors for sensitivity improvement

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QND Detection sensitivity

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Sensitivity:

Phys. Rev. D 113,015016 (2026)

Dark count rate

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Operation error

Thermal noise

Phys. Rev. D 113,015016 (2026)

YIG sphere mass

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Phys. Rev. D 113,015016 (2026)

Multiplexing

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Phys. Rev. D 113,015016 (2026)

Summary

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Phys. Rev. D 113,015016 (2026)