Measurement of 1.3GHz Nb Cavity in High Magnetic Field for Axion Dark Matter Searches

The axion is one of the most compelling dark matter candidates that could solve both the dark matter mystery and the strong charge parity (CP) problem. Initial searches for the axion in high-energy and nuclear-physics experiments combined with astrophysical constraints suggested that the axion must be extremely light and exhibits very weak couplings to ordinary matter and radiation. Nevertheless, Sikivie proposed the axion haloscope technique in which the axion can convert into photons in the presence of a strong magnetic field via the inverse Primakoff effect. A large fraction of the axion parameter space is accessible using this technique. The two parameters that affect the effectivity of the axion search are the quality factor of the cavity and the external applied magnetic field. The typical axion haloscope uses normal conducting cavities with an internal quality factor, Q₀ << Q_axion = 10⁶ in the multi-Tesla field. Whereas the state-of-the-art superconducting radio frequency (SRF) niobium (Nb) cavities can achieve up to 10¹¹. In order to understand if Nb SRF cavities can be successfully employed for axion haloscope searches, we investigated the quality factor degradation in presence of an applied magnetic field. In this poster, I will present the initial results of the study, focusing on the experimental setup, the measurement preparation, and the preliminary results of cavity Q₀ degradation as a function of the applied magnetic field.