Archil Kobakhidze: Quantum sensors as particle detectors - RQI Circuit Sydney 2023

Title: Quantum sensors as particle detectors
Abstract: Theories beyond the celebrated Standard Model of particle physics indicate that new particle and forces are manifest themself through very feeble interactions with ordinary matter. The standard method of detecting such particles and forces (pioneered by Rutherford) is based on the resolution of small distance and time scales by depositing large amount of energy and momentum of colliding particles and accurately measuring the classical quantities such as deposited energy and momentum of the particles resulted in those collisions. This is how the large particle colliders, such as the Large Hadron Collider, operate and they have obvious limitations. I will argue that rapidly developing quantum technologies that are capable of accurate measurements of quantum properties of systems, such as entanglement and interference, provide with new, and in some cases, unique opportunities to detect beyond the Standard Model Physics. I will illustrate this point with the specific example of utilising ultra-sensitive trapped electron and ion devices to search for isolated magnetic charges (magnetic monopoles) in the regime that in inaccessible by currently employed experimental techniques.
Talk delivered in Macquarie University on the 1st of December 2023.