A new class of axion haloscope resonators: the polygonal coaxial cavity

In the search for axionic Dark Matter, the high frequency part of the QCD axion parameter space is favored, as indicated by both cosmological and astrophysical arguments and recent indications from lattice QCD calculations. To extend the probing range of cavity haloscopes, solutions addressing the unfavorable scaling of cavity volume with frequency must be developed. Here, we present a novel type of high-volume thin shell resonator for high frequency haloscope dark matter searches. The cavity is formed by two nested and coaxial right angle polygonal prisms enclosed within two flat endcaps. For the axion-sensitive (pseudo-)TM010 mode, finite element simulations yield form factor of the order of 0.8 and Q factor of the order of 60000 for a copper cavity at 4K. High tunability of up to ∼ 5% is achieved by reciprocal rotation of the two prisms, without significant changes in haloscope sensitivity. A prototype aluminium hexagonal cavity was built and tested, confirming the main characteristics of the design.