Search for Dark Matter Using Levitated Nanoparticles Within a Bessel–Gaussian Beam via Yukawa Coupling

Chowdhury, Iftekher S.; Akhouri, Binay P.; Haque, Shah; Bacci, Martin H.; Howard, Eric

doi:10.3390/s25237138

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Search for Dark Matter Using Levitated Nanoparticles Within a Bessel–Gaussian Beam via Yukawa Coupling

by

Iftekher S. Chowdhury

¹

,

Binay P. Akhouri

²,

Shah Haque

³,

Martin H. Bacci

^1,4 and

Eric Howard

^1,3,5,*

¹

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

²

Department of Physics, Suraj Singh Memorial College, Ranchi University, Ranchi 834008, Jharkhand, India

³

Southern Cross Institute, School of Computer Science, Sydney, NSW 2150, Australia

⁴

Maritime and Polytechnic University College, 9900 Frederikshavn, Denmark

⁵

Department of Computer Science, Swinburne University, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Sensors 2025, 25(23), 7138; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25237138 (registering DOI)

Submission received: 8 September 2025 / Revised: 28 October 2025 / Accepted: 12 November 2025 / Published: 22 November 2025

(This article belongs to the Section Physical Sensors)

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Abstract

We present a novel experimental approach to detect dark matter by probing Yukawa interactions, commonly referred to as a fifth force, between dark matter and baryonic matter. Our method involves optically levitating nanoparticles within a Bessel–Gaussian beam to detect minute forces exerted by potential dark-matter interaction with test masses. The non-diffracting properties of Bessel–Gaussian beams, combined with feedback cooling techniques, provide exceptional sensitivity to small perturbations in the motion of the nanoparticles. This setup allows for precise control over trapping conditions and enhances the detection sensitivity to forces on the order of

10^{- 18}

N. We explore the parameter space of the Yukawa interaction, focusing on the coupling strength (

α

) and interaction range (

λ

), and discuss the potential of this experiment to place new constraints on dark-matter couplings, complementing existing direct detection methods.

Keywords: dark matter; Yukawa interaction; optical trapping; Bessel beam; levitated nanoparticles; precision sensing

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MDPI and ACS Style

Chowdhury, I.S.; Akhouri, B.P.; Haque, S.; Bacci, M.H.; Howard, E. Search for Dark Matter Using Levitated Nanoparticles Within a Bessel–Gaussian Beam via Yukawa Coupling. Sensors 2025, 25, 7138. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25237138

AMA Style

Chowdhury IS, Akhouri BP, Haque S, Bacci MH, Howard E. Search for Dark Matter Using Levitated Nanoparticles Within a Bessel–Gaussian Beam via Yukawa Coupling. Sensors. 2025; 25(23):7138. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25237138

Chicago/Turabian Style

Chowdhury, Iftekher S., Binay P. Akhouri, Shah Haque, Martin H. Bacci, and Eric Howard. 2025. "Search for Dark Matter Using Levitated Nanoparticles Within a Bessel–Gaussian Beam via Yukawa Coupling" Sensors 25, no. 23: 7138. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25237138

APA Style

Chowdhury, I. S., Akhouri, B. P., Haque, S., Bacci, M. H., & Howard, E. (2025). Search for Dark Matter Using Levitated Nanoparticles Within a Bessel–Gaussian Beam via Yukawa Coupling. Sensors, 25(23), 7138. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25237138

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Search for Dark Matter Using Levitated Nanoparticles Within a Bessel–Gaussian Beam via Yukawa Coupling

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