New directions in direct detection of low mass Dark Matter.


  Yossi Mosbacher [1]  ,  Ranny Budnik [2]  ,  Tomer Volansky [1]  ,  Ori Cheshnovsky [1]  
[1] Tel Aviv University
[2] Weizmann Institute

 

I will give a brief overview of a new approach for achieving eV-scale recoil thresholds for Dark Matter detection, via spectroscopic defects in Ionic crystals. This method has a prospect of detecting Dark Matter particles with masses down to 100 MeV, a part of parameter space which has so far been inaccessible.  
I will discuss the challenges in particle detection and the various advantages our approach affords.