Uniform field in microwave cavities through the use of effective magnetic walls

Wire medium (WM) resonators have emerged as a promising realization for plasma haloscopes—devices designed to detect axions, a potential component of dark matter. Key factors influencing the detection probability include cavity volume, resonance quality factor, and form factor. While the form factor has been explored for resonant frequency tuning, its optimization for axion detection remains unexplored. Here, in this work, we present an approach to significantly enhancing the form factor of WM plasma haloscopes. By shifting the metal walls of the resonator by a quarter wavelength, we effectively convert an electric wall boundary condition into a magnetic wall one, allowing for an almost uniform mode. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations confirm that this modification improves the electric field profile and boosts the form factor, while also slightly enhancing the quality factor. We validate these findings through experimental results from two prototype resonators: one with a standard geometry and another with a quarter-wave air gap between the WM and the walls. Additionally, our method provides a simple way to control the field profile within WM cavities, which can be explored for further applications.. Authors: Enriquez, Jim A. [National Univ. of Colombia (Colombia)] (ORCID:0000000244687014); Balafendiev, Rustam [Univ. of Iceland (Iceland)] (ORCID:0000000150815257); Millar, Alexander J. [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)]; Simovski, Constantin [Aalto Univ. (Finland)]; Belov, Pavel [Harbin Engineering Univ. (China); New Uzbekistan Univ. (Uzbekistan)] (ORCID:0000000251072763). DOE Contract: 89243024CSC000002; AC02-07CH11359. Subjects: 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; axions; cavity resonators; dark matter detectors; dielectric properties; metamaterials; microwave techniques; optoelectronics; particle dark matter