Axions: search for dark matter using ultra-intense lasers

José Tito Mendonça

doi:10.1117/12.2531105

3 October 2019 Axions: search for dark matter using ultra-intense lasers

José Tito Mendonça

Proceedings Volume 11207, Fourth International Conference on Applications of Optics and Photonics; 1120731 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2531105
Event: IV International Conference on Applications of Optics and Photonics (AOP 2019), 2019, Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract

Dark matter is a key ingredient to physical cosmology, and one of the mysteries of modern science. Among a variety of possible candidates which have been explored in recent decades (such as WIMPs and WISPs), the axions are the most promising constituents of dark matter. These hypothetical particles have been proposed to solve fundamental problems of charge- parity (CP) invariance and their discovery could therefore solve two important problems in cosmology and in particle physics. The axions, and axion-like particles, have been actively searched without success since the 80’s of the last century, using both laboratory experiments and astrophysical observations. In recent years, it became clear that the axions, if they exist, could be actively produced by intense laser pulses in magnetised and unmagnetised vacuum, and that the axion field could become unstable under the action of intense laser beams. Alternatively, the signature of axions could possibly be found in the dispersion relation of electrostatic waves in strongly magnetised plasmas, due to the formation of the axion-plasmon mode. This new mode could be excited by intense laser pulses in a plasma. In the present work, we consider different configurations leading to the excitation of axions by intense laser pulses, and consider propagation both in vacuum and in plasmas. A discussion of possible experimental arrangements, using the available laser technology is included.

Citation Download Citation

José Tito Mendonça "Axions: search for dark matter using ultra-intense lasers", Proc. SPIE 11207, Fourth International Conference on Applications of Optics and Photonics, 1120731 (3 October 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2531105

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KEYWORDS

Plasmas

Pulsed laser operation

Magnetism

Modulation

Particles

Photons

Laser beam propagation

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