Quantum sensing for particle physics using Single Molecule Magnets

The current attempts to give an answer to the most puzzling questions in fundamental physics, for instance in the direct search for Dark Matter, drive the development of new detection techniques allowing to go beyond the traditional measurement approaches. On this purpose, an increasing R&D activity on new sensing strategies based on exploiting the extreme sensitivity of quantum systems is currently ongoing, aiming at introducing innovative sensors with frontier performances. Among the quantum systems being currently investigated in this interdisciplinary field, Single Molecule Magnets (SMMs, molecular crystals where each molecule substantially behaves as a tiny, isolated magnet) are considered to have promising potential for developments in the context of spin-based devices. After an introduction to these new materials, we present the INFN R&D project NAMASSTE and its preliminary results, which give strong evidence of the possibility to perform quantum sensing for particle detection based on SMMs.