Description:

Abstract: Recently it has been proposed to search for dark matter using mechanical sensors, exploiting the fact that all dark matter candidates couple to the size or position of atoms. While focus has been directed towards analyzing signal from gravitational wave detectors and equivalence principle tests, a unique opportunity has emerged to develop compact detectors based on cavity optomechanical systems, which have recently achieved force measurements at the quantum limit.  I'll discuss this concept from an experimentalist's perspective, highlighting a proposal to search for vector dark matter with optomechanical accelerometers.  In this context, our lab is developing a new generation of ultra-sensitive accelerometers based on centimeter-scale silicon nitride membranes.

Dalziel Wilson, Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona

Dalziel Wilson is an assistant professor of physics and optical sciences at the University of Arizona. His work in cavity optomechanics, spanning a decade, includes seminal demonstrations of radiation pressure feedback cooling, quantum-limited position measurement, optomechanical light squeezing, membrane-based cavity optomechanics, and ultra- high-Q strain-engineered nanomechanics. Previously, he was a scientist at IBM Research–Zurich, a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at EPFL, a Ph.D. student at Caltech, and an undergraduate at UC Berkeley. 

Host: Tim Kovachy

Keywords: CFP, Physics