Axion search with a quantum-limited ferromagnetic haloscope

A ferromagnetic axion haloscope searches for dark matter in the form of axions by exploiting their interaction with electronic spins. It is composed of an axion-to-electromagnetic field transducer coupled to a sensitive rf detector. The former is a photon-magnon hybrid system, and the latter is based on a quantum-limited Josephson parametric amplifier. The hybrid system consists of ten 2.1 mm diameter yttrium iron garnet spheres coupled to a single microwave cavity mode by means of a static magnetic field. Our setup is the most sensitive rf spin magnetometer ever realized. The minimum detectable field is 5.5 x 10(-19) T with 9 h integration time, corresponding to a limit on the axion-electron coupling constant g(aee) <= 1.7 x 10(-11) at 95% C.L. The scientific run of our haloscope resulted in the best limit on dark matter axions to electron coupling constant in a frequency span of about 120 MHz, corresponding to the axion-mass range 42.4-43.1 mu eV. This is also the first apparatus to perform a wide axion-mass scanning by only changing the static magnetic field.