GigaBREAD: Receiver Chain and Travelling-Wave Parametric Amplifier (TWPA) Integration Toward Quantum-Limited Noise Performance

The BREAD (Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection) experiment aims to detect wave-like dark matter candidates such as dark photons and axion-like particles (ALPs). The GigaBREAD prototype uses a dish antenna to convert these particles into photons within the 10–15 GHz range (41.4-61.2 μeV) and focuses them onto a low-noise receiver chain. This talk focuses on the characterization of the receiver chain, including room-temperature and cryogenic measurements of its noise performance and bandwidth response. It will discuss the integration of travelling-wave parametric amplifiers (TWPAs) to push sensitivity toward the quantum limit, addressing the challenges of implementing TWPAs in a cryogenic environment (such as impedance matching, thermal isolation, and system stability) and outlining the projected gains in sensitivity for future GigaBREAD runs.