New 13 meV Sensors Probe Dark Matter at Lower Energies

A new dark matter search at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a collaboration spanning Caltech, Washington University in St. Louis, MIT, the University of Chicago, Oxford University, and JPL, is probing an elusive energy range previously out of reach. Researchers have developed a 13 meV threshold superconducting sensor array, designed to detect the incredibly faint energy deposits expected from interactions with dark matter particles at these low energies. This development addresses a critical need in the field, as many well-motivated dark matter models predict interactions at this scale. The experiment, named QUALIPHIDE, utilizes…