UChicago PME Quantum Science and Engineering Seminar -

Quantum-Enhanced Sensing of Wave-Like Dark Matter with Entangled High-Q Cavities

Wave-like dark matter candidates produce extremely weak, narrowband electromagnetic signatures, so improving the scan rate at a fixed sensitivity is central to their detection. In this talk I will present a quantum-enhanced protocol for detecting wave-like dark matter using an array of N entangled superconducting cavities initialized in an m-photon Fock state. By distributing and recollecting the quantum state with an entanglement-distribution operation, the scan rate scales as N²(m+1) when thermal excitation is the dominant background, which can significantly outperform classical approaches under matched conditions. I will then describe our experimental effort on the hardware and control elements required to realize this idea, including high-Q niobium cavities that support large Fock-state preparation and long integration times, high-fidelity microwave beamsplitter operations enabled by tunable couplers, and filtered, low- loss quantum interconnects. Together these elements not only make the sensing protocol experimentally feasible, but also provide the foundation for a modular SRF-cavity quantum processor for broader quantum information tasks. 

For more information: Contacts: Liang Jiang | liangjiang@uchicago.edu 

Admin: Vanessa Fortenberry | vanessaf@uchicago.edu