New Quantum Materials Could Dramatically Boost the Search for Dark Matter

Insider Brief

• Researchers identified three quantum materials that could improve searches for extremely light dark matter by several orders of magnitude.
• Titanium diselenide, strontium ruthenate and hole-doped diamond host electronic excitations that could amplify the faint energy signals produced by dark matter interactions. T
• itanium diselenide and strontium ruthenate also offer directional sensitivity, which could help researchers distinguish dark matter signals from background noise.

PRESS RELEASE — For decades, physicists have searched for dark matter, the invisible substance thought to make up roughly 85% of all matter in the universe. Although its gravitational influence shapes galaxies and the large-scale structure of the cosmos, dark matter has never been directly detected. Now, an international team has identified a new class of quantum materials that could dramatically improve the search for some of the lightest and most elusive forms of dark matter.

Published in Physical Review Letters, the study introduces three unconventional materials whose unique electronic properties could serve as exceptionally sensitive dark matter detectors, potentially surpassing existing detector designs by several orders of magnitude.