Lithium-Containing Crystals for Light Dark Matter Search Experiments

In the current direct dark matter search landscape, the leading experiments in the sub-GeV mass region mostly rely on cryogenic techniques which employ crystalline targets. One attractive type of crystals for these experiments is those containing lithium, due to the fact that \(^7\hbox {Li}\) is an ideal candidate to study spin-dependent dark matter interactions in the low mass region. Furthermore, \(^6\hbox {Li}\) can absorb neutrons, a challenging background for dark matter experiments, through a distinctive signature which allows the monitoring of the neutron flux directly on site. In this work, we show the results obtained with three different detectors based on \(\hbox {LiAlO}_2\), a target crystal never used before in cryogenic experiments.