Dark Matter Detection Using Phonon Sensing in Amorphous Materials

Abstract

We present a concept for a tabletop-scale detector with an amorphous target designed to search for dark matter absorption into phonon excitations. In crystalline materials, absorption occurs only at narrow resonances where the dark matter mass matches a zero momentum optical phonon mode, whereas amorphous targets provide a broadband response that can substantially enhance the absorption rate away from these resonances. The predicted backgrounds arise from the relaxation of disorder-induced metastable defects in the amorphous target, as well as from low-energy noise intrinsic to superconducting phonon sensors. A prototype detector with a target mass of only a few $\mu$g could provide broadband sensitivity to dark photon absorption across the 50 meV-200 meV mass range, probing up to two orders of magnitude beyond existing constraints.