Recently, I have been working on S/N/S Josephson
junctions as possible detectors for axionic dark matter.
Axions are a very promising candidate for dark matter.
Most likely, they form a Bose-Einstein condensate.
This opens up the possibility for new detection methods based on macroscopic quantum effects. Have a look at my recent preprint (Sept 2013) ,
which has appeared as C.Beck, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 231801 (2013).
A synopsis has been given on the Physics website of APS.
(S/N/S Josephson junctions are superconducting devices,
consisting of a tiny area of normal metal between two superconducting electrodes.)

Some time ago I have also been working on possible measurable effects that dark energy could produce on laboratory scales.
So far nobody really knows what dark energy is. All that is known is that it is an unknown homogeneous form
of energy that drives the accelerated expansion of the universe.
It could be some form of vacuum energy that is produced by quantum fluctuations.
Dark energy is just the unvisible part of this

Some models of dark energy allow for an interaction of dark energy with Cooper pairs in superconductors.
A paper discussing possible laboratory tests can be found here.
We have been suggesting to use either Josephson junctions or rotating superconductors as suitable `dark energy detectors'.
The first paper of mine in this direction is called Could dark energy be measured in the lab?
There have been a number of popular science articles that describe the basic concepts and experimental approaches underlying this idea:
PhysicsWeb (June 2004)
New Scientist (July 2004)
Nature (July 2004)
New Scientist (April 2007)
Cosmos magazine (August 2007)
El Pais (March 2008)

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