A Pathway to Sub-meV Detection of the Dark Universe: Robust Electron Avalanche in the PN junction at 10 mK

Abstract

The search for light dark matter and cosmic primordial neutrinos necessitates detectors with sub-millielectronvolt (sub-meV) energy thresholds. While superconducting quantum sensors have approached this sensitivity, they often face significant challenges regarding readout complexity and scalability. To address these limitations, we propose a hybrid Superconductor-Insulator-P-N (S-I-P-N) detector architecture. This concept combines the high sensitivity of superconducting Cooper pair breaking with the massive intrinsic gain of semiconductor electron avalanches. A critical prerequisite for this scheme is operation at millikelvin (mK) temperatures, raising the critical fundamental question of whether silicon PN junctions can sustain avalanche multiplication in a regime where carrier freeze-out is severe. Here, we experimentally validate the critical semiconductor amplification stage of the proposed detector. We demonstrate that Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) retain robust Geiger-mode avalanche capabilities at 10 mK. We report a single-photoelectron gain of order 10$^6$ and a dark count rate as low as 5~mHz/mm$^2$, 7 orders of magnitude lower than at room temperature. These results confirm the viability of high-gain semiconductor readout in the deep cryogenic regime, clearing the primary obstacle regarding the semiconductor component for the realization of scalable, sub-meV threshold S-I-P-N detectors.