Measuring electron electric dipole moment by using ultracold YbF molecular beams
File(s)
Author(s)
Li, Gen
Type
Thesis
Abstract
A non-zero electron electric dipole moment (eEDM) is an evidence of T violation which encourages researchers to push the limit of measuring eEDM. In this work, we will show the progress towards measuring eEDM using ultracold Ytterbium fluoride (174YbF) molecular beams. We have produced YbF molecules by using a 4 K Helium buffer gas source. We have applied two-dimensional transverse laser cooling to collimate the molecular beam in the laser cooling region. We have observed sub Doppler cooling effect on YbF molecules (the Doppler limit of YbF is 137 µK ). We have obtained a shot eEDM sensitivity on ultracold YbF molecules around 10^−25 e·cm. We have optically pumped 85% of ultracold molecules to the ground state before they enter the interaction region. In the interaction region, we have applied STIRAP to prepare and read out the eEDM state. We have reduced the noise of magnetic field in the interaction region to 1 pT . In the detection region, we have achieved over 95% detection efficiency on YbF molecules by using laser-induced fluorescence. We have systematically studied the simulation of laser cooling in terms of laser intensity, laser frequency detuning, polarization configurations and magnetic field. We have also used optical Bloch equations (OBEs) to simulate the transition schemes in the optical pumping, STIRAP and detection regions. The calculation of OBEs can explain our experimental observation and give insights on improving the experimental design.
Version
Open Access
Date Issued
2024-01
Date Awarded
2024-05
Copyright Statement
Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial Licence
License URL
Advisor
Sauer, Benjamin
Lim, Jongseok
Publisher Department
Physics
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Doctoral
Qualification Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)