DIRECT DETECTION OF GALACTIC AXIONS WITH RYDBERG ATOMS IN AN INHIBITED CAVITY REGIME

A new scheme to detect galactic axions directly with Rydberg atoms is proposed and discussed. Rydberg atoms are excited from the lower to the upper fine-structure states by absorbing the axions in an inhibited (non-resonant) cavity regime. The weak transition rate in axion absorption could be enormously enhanced due to the huge occupation number of the axions if the axions constitute our galactic halo, while the transition rate in photon absorption could be strongly suppressed in a cooled, inhibited cavity regime. Thus it would be possible to get a good signal-to-noise ratio for axion hunting.