Approaching the first any light particle search II science run

Abstract

The Any Light Particle Search II (ALPS II) is a light-shining-through-a-wall (LSW) experiment based at DESY in Hamburg, Germany, that will search for axions and axion-like particles down to the coupling of the axion to two photons of g_{a\gamma\gamma}gaγγ >2\times10^{-11}×10−11 GeV^{-1}−1 for masses below 0.1 meV. ALPS II will use two strings of superconducting dipole magnets that are over one hundred meters in length, as well as optical cavities before and after the wall to boost the effective signal rate of the regenerated photons by more than 12 orders of magnitude when compared to previous generations of LSW experiments. Data taking with a simplified optical system is expected to begin in early 2023.