Search for dark photon dark matter near 1 meV using a superconducting mixer
Abstract
We demonstrate the use of a superconducting mixer for direct searches for dark photon dark matter (DPDM) in the meV mass range. DPDM couples to the ordinary electromagnetic field through kinetic mixing with a coupling constant χ and can convert into ordinary photons at the surface of a metal plate. For DPDM masses of 1 meV, the conversion photons have frequencies of around 240 GHz. At such frequencies, superconducting mixers enable low-noise spectroscopic measurements. We performed a direct search for DPDM in the mass range 1.0047578-1.0047598 meV, corresponding to the frequency range 242.94935-242.94983 GHz, using approximately one hour of data obtained with a cryogenic millimeter-wave receiver based on a superconducting mixer. No significant excess was found, and we set upper limits of χ< (1.6−1.9)×10−9 at the 95% confidence level. These limits are comparable to existing constraints from solar dark photons. By applying this method, we plan to extend the search to the wider mass range of 0.7-1.1 meV, corresponding to 170-260 GHz, with improved sensitivity.
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BibTeX
@misc{hanimura2026search,
title = {{Search for dark photon dark matter near $\mathbf1\,meV$ using a superconducting mixer}},
author = {K. Hanimura and S. Adachi and Y. Hasegawa and S. Honda and T. Nakajima and H. Ogawa and J. Suzuki and O. Tajima and H. Takeuchi},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.02734},
eprint = {2611.02734},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.02734},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Search for dark photon dark matter near 1 meV using a superconducting mixer
AU - K. Hanimura
AU - S. Adachi
AU - Y. Hasegawa
AU - S. Honda
AU - T. Nakajima
AU - H. Ogawa
AU - J. Suzuki
AU - O. Tajima
AU - H. Takeuchi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.02734
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.02734
AB - We demonstrate the use of a superconducting mixer for direct searches for dark photon dark matter (DPDM) in the meV mass range. DPDM couples to the ordinary electromagnetic field through kinetic mixing with a coupling constant χ and can convert into ordinary photons at the surface of a metal plate. For DPDM masses of 1 meV, the conversion photons have frequencies of around 240 GHz. At such frequencies, superconducting mixers enable low-noise spectroscopic measurements. We performed a direct search for DPDM in the mass range 1.0047578-1.0047598 meV, corresponding to the frequency range 242.94935-242.94983 GHz, using approximately one hour of data obtained with a cryogenic millimeter-wave receiver based on a superconducting mixer. No significant excess was found, and we set upper limits of χ< (1.6−1.9)×10^−9 at the 95% confidence level. These limits are comparable to existing constraints from solar dark photons. By applying this method, we plan to extend the search to the wider mass range of 0.7-1.1 meV, corresponding to 170-260 GHz, with improved sensitivity.
ER -