Exploration of Phonon Assisted and Field-Enhanced Desorption Processes

Hypothetical dark matter candidates interact with normal matter and can generate phonons in rare collisions. To be able to detect these phonons from rare dark matter interactions, new detectors are being developed to increase sensitivity especially for low mass dark matter candidates. We explore phonon assisted and field-enhanced desorption processes that could enable the development of new detectors for dark matter searches. To detect low energy phonons, down to ~1 meV, surfaces are coated with a thin layer of atoms or molecules that can be polarized in an applied electrical field to tune the surface binding energy. The desorbed species are then detected using a mass spectrometer (at first) and quantum sensors (later). We report on our experimental studies based on measuring the desorption rate using residual gas analysers and a temperature range from room temperature down to a few Kelvin. We will discuss the status and direction for our experiments including integration with quantum sensors based on quantum dots or NV-centers.