- Jan. 9, 2023, 2:00 pm US/Central
- Curia II
BREAD is a novel dish antenna for broadband ~µeV-eV range axion and wave-dark matter detection, which allows to utilize state-of-the-art high-field solenoidal magnets. At these masses it is difficult to scale up traditional resonant detectors to the required volume. However, at metallic surfaces in a high magnetic field dark matter axions can convert to photons regardless of axion mass. These photons can be successively focused onto a detector (dish antenna concept). We present a novel dish antenna with a rotationally symmetric parabolic focusing reflector designed to take advantage of high-field solenoidal magnets. We recently demonstrated [PRL 128 (2022) 131801] that this concept using a $\sim 10\,{\rm m}^2$ conversion area in a $\sim 10\,{\rm T}$ field has the potential to discover QCD axions spanning multiple decades in mass range. We discuss viable low-noise photon detectors and show progress towards first stage hidden photon pilot experiments for two distinct frequency ranges – GigaBREAD and InfraBREAD – with expected sensitivities to unexplored hidden photon couplings. We detail R&D on reflector characterization, horn antenna & sensor testing and signal readout. We also outline sensitivity estimates for future large-scale versions.