A quantum leap toward expanding the search for dark matter

Figuring out how to extend the search for dark matter particles – dark matter describes the stuff that makes up an estimated 85 percent of the total mass of the universe yet so far has only been measured by its gravitational effects – is a bit like building a better mousetrap… that is, a mousetrap for a mouse you've never seen, will never see directly, may be joined by an odd assortment of other mice, or may not be a mouse after all.

Now, through a new research program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of High Energy Physics (HEP), a consortium of researchers from the DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), UC Berkeley, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst will develop sensors that enlist the seemingly weird properties of quantum physics to probe for dark matter particles in new ways, with increased sensitivity, and in uncharted regions. Maurice Garcia-Sciveres, a Berkeley Lab physicist, is leading this Quantum Sensors HEP-Quantum Information Science (QIS) Consortium.

Quantum technologies are emerging as promising alternatives to the more conventional "mousetraps" that researchers have previously used to track down elusive particles. And the DOE, through the same HEP office, is also supporting a collection of other research efforts led by Berkeley Lab scientists that tap into quantum theory, properties, and technologies in the QIS field.