Ben McAllister wins DECRA to enhance dark matter search with quantum technologies

Centre member Ben McAllister was awarded a 2025 ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) for his research to enhance Australian dark matter searches with quantum technology.

The funding will help him build a new dark matter detection experiment at Swinburne.

DECRA recipient Ben McAllister

The experiment will be a ‘low mass axion detector’ which will complement the work happening at the University of Western Australia on the ORGAN (Oscillating Resonant Group AxioN) experiment.

It will also support new research in the development of quantum technologies for applications both within axion searches, and in other emerging technology areas.

Dr McAllister said the funding would be useful for the research and development of new technologies it enabled.

 “Like all dark matter research, this project will bring us closer to solving the biggest mystery in the Universe, ‘What is the nature of dark matter?’. At the same time, the new technologies that I aim to develop could find applications in areas like computing, sensing, and communication technologies, and will contribute to the growing Australian quantum industry.”

He explained why quantum technologies could be a important tool in the search for dark matter:

“Looking for dark matter is very challenging because the signals we expect to see are so tiny. We need the most sensitive detectors we can imagine – and at the moment those are quantum sensors. We need new breakthroughs in quantum sensing technology to give us a chance of seeing the very faint signatures of dark matter that we expect in our experiment.”

Dr McAllister said he was grateful for the support and mentorship that had led him to achieve this award, and for the funding that would enable him to pursue this important research.