[Triumf-seminars] TRIUMF Particle Phys/SciTec Seminar today at 10:00

[TRIUMF Seminars]

Date/Time: Fri 2023-09-08 at 10:00

Location:  Zoom                

Speaker:   Gulden (Joule) Othman (DESY)

Title:     Shining Light Through Walls with the ALPS II Experiment

Abstract: The Any Light Particle Search II (ALPS II) experiment searches for axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) that could explain dark matter and various anomalous astrophysical phenomena. ALPS II takes advantage of the axion coupling to photons using a resonantly enhanced Light-Shining-through-a-Wall (LSW) technique. Photons created using a strong laser may convert into axions or ALPs in the presence of a strong magnetic field, traverse a light-tight barrier, reconvert into photons in another strong magnetic field, and be subsequently detected. Fabry-Perot resonators before and after the light-tight barrier lead to an enhancement of the electromagnetic fields, providing an extra boost in the conversion probability as compared to traditional LSW experiments. At the sensitivity goal for ALPS II we expect only 1 reconverted photon per day, which necessitates sensitive photon detectors with high efficiency and low backgrounds. The first stage of ALPS II, currently running at DESY, Hamburg, will use a heterodyne (HET) detection method. In future stages, ALPS II will utilize a superconducting Transition Edge Sensor (TES), which is sensitive to single infrared photons. In this talk, I give a brief overview of the principle of LSW experiments, give exciting updates on the first commissioning run of ALPS II (with the HET detection scheme), and especially discuss the status and progress of our TES detector.
Zoom connection: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/68423477588?pwd=UzBDcllBcnA3U2txbzZSZjNuVG9PZz09



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