Detecting Axion-Polaritons in Condensed Matter
ORAL
Abstract
The magnetoelectric response in condensed matter systems has been linked to the physics of the axion, a hypothetical particle proposed to resolve the strong CP problem in QCD and is now considered a leading dark matter candidate. While QCD axions remain undetected, topological materials can host condensed matter analogues where the usual quantized axion response is promoted to a dynamical field by spontaneous symmetry breaking. Despite the table-top promises of quasiparticle-axions, an unambiguous signature of these analogue axion-polaritons is highly nontrivial. The theoretical foundation of a pump–probe protocol for sensing dynamical axion quasiparticles is laid out, which was recently validated experimentally measuring time-resolved Kerr rotations in an antiferromagnetic topological insulator. This framework of quasiparticle axion-polaritons is further extended to the possibility of detecting dark-matter axion-like-particles. Engineering of light-matter interactions in these systems lays groundwork for simulating and sensing high energy theories in solid-state platforms.
*This work is supported by the Quantum Science Center (QSC), a National Quantum Information Science Research Center of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
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Presenters
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Emily M. Been
- University of California, Los Angeles