Exploration of Metamaterial Designs for Axion Detection

A variety of advanced experimental techniques are being used to search for dark matter axions. Next-generation haloscopes aim to search higher in the axion mass range, corresponding to frequencies of tens of GHz. The traditional haloscope technique relies on using resonant cavities, which becomes a challenge at these frequencies due to a decrease in cavity volume. One promising solution is the use of metamaterial structures to decouple detector volume from frequency scaling. Current experiments in development use arrays of metallic wires or rods to create metamaterials that can replace the microwave cavity. This talk will discuss a preliminary modeling study of metamaterial designs based on more complex unit cells which could aid in reaching beyond 20 GHz. In the presented simulations, there will be a focus on the electric field patterns generated by the wire arrays, where we will examine resonances and how the field distribution enables tuning across a range of frequencies.