  We report on the results of the search for dark photons with mass around
1.5$\,\rm eV/c^2$ using a multilayer dielectric haloscope equipped with an
affordable and commercially available photosensor. The multilayer stack, which
enables the conversion of dark photons (DP) to Standard Model photons, is made
of 23 bilayers of alternating SiO$_2$ and Si$_3$N$_4$ thin films with linearly
increasing thicknesses through the stack (a configuration known as a "chirped
stack"). The thicknesses have been chosen according to an optimisation
algorithm in order to maximise the DP-photon conversion in the energy region
where the photosensor sensitivity peaks. This prototype experiment, baptised
MuDHI (Multilayer Dielectric Haloscope Investigation) by the authors of this
paper, has been designed, developed and run at the Astroparticle Laboratory of
New York University Abu Dhabi, which marks the first time a dark matter
experiment has been operated in the Middle East. No significant signal excess
is observed, and the method of maximum log-likelihood is used to set exclusion
limits at $90\%$ confidence level on the kinetic mixing coupling constant
between dark photons and ordinary photons.
