Russian Physicists Develop Ultrasensitive Sensors for Dark Matter Searches
Researchers at the Institute for Physics of Microstructures of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Alekseev Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University have developed sensors for radio astronomy and received a patent for the device.
The device is an electromagnetic radiation detector: when radiation strikes its sensitive element, the electrons heat up, changing the signal. The main challenge was preventing that heat from dissipating, which would also weaken the useful signal. The researchers addressed the problem with a thin layer of hafnium that acts as a thermal barrier, slowing the transfer of energy from the electrons to their surroundings and reducing parasitic currents.
The sensors could be used to study the early evolution of the universe, detect neutrinos and search for axions, hypothetical dark matter particles. According to Andrey Pankratov, a leading researcher at the Institute for Physics of Microstructures and Alekseev Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University, axions interact only weakly with matter but can convert into photons in a strong magnetic field, allowing the device to detect them. If scientists learn to control this process, Pankratov said, dark matter energy could potentially be converted into electricity.
The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation and will serve as the basis for detectors used in physics, astrophysics and quantum metrology.
