We investigate the prospect of an alternative laboratory-based search for the coupling of axions and axion-like particles to photons. Here, the collision of two laser beams resonantly produces axions, and a signal photon is detected after magnetic reconversion, as in light-shining-through-walls (LSW) experiments. Conventional searches, such as LSW or anomalous birefrigence measurements, are most sensitive to axion masses for which substantial coherence can be achieved; this is usually well below optical energies. We find that using currently available high-power laser facilities, the bounds that can be achieved by our approach outperform traditional LSW at axion masses between 0.5−6 eV, set by the optical laser frequencies and collision angle. These bounds can be further improved through coherent scattering off laser substructures, probing axion-photon couplings down to gaγγ∼10−8GeV−1, comparable with existing CAST bounds. Assuming a day long measurement per angular step, the QCD axion band can be reached.
@article{arxiv.2001.03392,
title = {Axion detection through resonant photon-photon collisions},
author = {K. A. Beyer and G. Marocco and R. Bingham and G. Gregori},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.03392},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
6 pages, 5 figures; realistic experimental parameters considered. To appear in PRD