HAYSTAC Status, Results, and Plans

Abstract

We describe the design of the dark matter experiment Haloscope At Yale Sensitive To Axion Cold Dark Matter (HAYSTAC), and report the results of a haloscope search for dark matter axions. We exclude axion models with axion-photon couplings $g_{a\gamma\gamma} \underset{\sim}{{>}}2\times10^{-14}$ GeV$^{-1}$ over the range $23.55<m_{a}<24.0$ $\mu$eV. This sensitivity is a factor of 2.7 above KSVZ model coupling, averaged over the given mass range. Phase I achieved a noise temperature a factor of 2 over the standard quantum limit. Phase II, now entering commissioning, incorporates a squeezed-vacuum state receiver to evade the quantum limit, which will deliver a factor of $\sim2$ improvement in scanning rate over the current single Josephson parametric amplifier (JPA) receiver. The sensitivity of the HAYSTAC Phase II receiver will lead to precise constraints on two photon coupling strengths and represents the most sensitive axion cavity detector probing $m_a>20~\mu$eV to date.