Quantum Sensing for the Detection of Coherent Neutrino Scattering

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) and precision studies of neutrino mass are a unique area in particle physics where much of the interesting physics lies at and below the eV scale. CEvNS has long been of interest to the field; the coherence of the interaction dramatically enhances the scattering cross section, at the cost of producing extremely small (and therefore hard-to-detect) energy deposits in a detector. The 2017 detection of keV-scale CEvNS by the COHERENT collaboration, and recent detection of sub-keV CEvNS from reactor neutrinos by the CONUS collaboration, has shown that kg-scale experiments can in fact measure this process, providing a completely new probe of the neutrino sector. The next frontier is to lower detectors’ thresholds to the eV scale to provide sensitivity to new neutrino sources and new beyond-the-Standard-Model physics channels. 

Beyond CEvNS, there is growing interest in sub-eV sensing both fundamental and applied neutrino physics; one example is the possible use of coherent scattering at meV scales for nuclear nonproliferation applications, most notably supported by the recent DARPA program: Quantum Sensing for Neutrinos (QuSeN). In addition, a number of experiments (BeEST, SALER) are utilizing cryogenic detectors to measure eV-scale nuclear recoils with meV resolution to search for BSM physics in beta decays - these measurements could benefit from a similar set of quantum-enhanced detection strategies. 

This is a 2 day workshop, hosted at Stanford and SLAC, to identify the science targets and bring together the neutrino physics and quantum sensing communities to accelerate progress in this emerging area.

This workshop is hosted by Q-FARM and organized by SLAC team: Brian Lenardo, Noah Kurinsky, Emilio Alessandro 

EVENT LOCATIONS:

Day 1: Thursday, November 19, 2026 will be held at Stanford, Paul AllenX 101X 

Day 2: Friday, November 20, 2026 will be held at SLAC (TBD)