Superconducting Radio Frequency Cavities as Axion Dark Matter Detectors

Abstract

A modification of the cavity technique for axion dark matter detection is described in which the cavity is driven with input power instead of being permeated by a static magnetic field. A small fraction of the input power is pumped by the axion field to a receiving mode of frequency $\omega_1$ when the resonance condition $\omega_1 = \omega_0 \pm m_a$ is satisfied, where $\omega_0$ is the frequency of the input mode and $m_a$ the axion mass. The relevant form factor is calculated for any pair of input and output modes in a cylindrical cavity. The overall search strategy is discussed and the technical challenges to be overcome by an actual experiment are listed.