https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2004-00175-2
Proposed search for an electric-dipole moment using laser-cooled 171Yb atoms
Department of Physics, Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore 560 012, India
Corresponding author: a vasant@physics.iisc.ernet.in
Received:
2
July
2004
Revised:
21
September
2004
Published online:
30
November
2004
We propose an experiment to search for a
permanent atomic electric-dipole moment (EDM) using
laser-cooled 171Yb atoms launched in an atomic
fountain. A uniform B field sets the quantization axis,
and the Ramsey separated-oscillatory-fields method is used
to measure the Zeeman precession frequency of the atoms.
Laser beams of appropriate polarization are used for
preparation and detection in a given magnetic sublevel. The
signature of an EDM is a shift in the Ramsey resonance
correlated with application of a large E field. The
precision is expected to be at least 20 times better than
current limits because the use of a cold atomic beam allows
application of E field 10 times larger than in a vapor
cell, and the interaction time with the E field is 200
times larger compared to a thermal beam. The leading source
of systematic error in beam experiments, the motional magnetic field, is reduced
considerably because of the near-perfect reversal of
velocity between up and down trajectories through the
E-field region.
PACS: 32.80.Pj – Optical cooling of atoms; trapping / 32.10.Dk – Electric and magnetic moments, polarizability / 11.30.Er – Charge conjugation, parity, time reversal, and other discrete symmetries
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2005