Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 102: Axions/ALPs III

T 102.3: Talk

Friday, March 20, 2026, 09:30–09:45, KH 02.019

Tuning structure of a dielectric haloscope for axion dark matter detection, MADMAX — •Dominik Bergermann for the MADMAX collaboration — III. Physikalisches Institut A, RWTH Aachen University

Axions are promising candidates for cold dark matter and the absence of CP violation in strong interaction. The MAgnetized Disc and Mirror Axion eXperiment is a future dielectric haloscope experiment targeting axion dark matter in a mass range of 40 to 400 µeV. It consists of multiple, consecutive and movable dielectric discs to amplify the weak microwave signal of axion photon conversion in a strong magnetic field.

Covering this range with a single experimental setup, while simultaneously being able to finetune the resonance on potential signals, necessitates repositioning the experimental hardware continuously and automatically. The disc positions as parameter-space can be tuned to produce desired signal shapes, with reliably achieving sub 10 µm accuracy as the prime challenge. All respective hardware is required to be compatible with the high magnetic field strengths, vacuum and cryogenic temperatures.

This talk presents the piezo-motor driven MADMAX disc assembly and its control system, with the first results on disc positioning accuracy.

Keywords: MADMAX; axion; dark matter; haloscope