Progress on the ARIADNE axion experiment

Understand

The Axion Resonant InterAction Detection Experiment (ARIADNE) is a collaborative effort to search for the QCD axion using techniques based on nuclear magnetic resonance.

• In the experiment, axions or axion-like particles would mediate short-range spin-dependent interactions between a laser-polarized 3He gas and a rotating (unpolarized) tungsten source mass, acting as a tiny, fictitious "magnetic field".
• The experiment has the potential to probe deep within the theoretically interesting regime for the QCD axion in the mass range of 0.1-10 meV, independently of cosmological assumptions.
• The experiment relies on a stable rotary mechanism and superconducting magnetic shielding, required to screen the 3He sample from ordinary magnetic noise.