Short-Lived Radioactive Molecules
Precision measurements of molecular systems provide highly sensitive laboratories for exploring the possible violation of fundamental symmetries and search for new physics beyond the standard model physics [Barr14,Demi17,Safr18]. Radioactive molecules compound of heavy and deformed short-lived isotopes are predicted to offer unprecedented sensitivity to investigate parity and time reversal violation effects. However, the experimental knowledge of short-lived radioactive molecules is scarce, and quantum chemistry calculations has constituted the only source of spectroscopy information.
[Barr14] Barry, J. et al. Nature 512, 286 (2014).
[Demi17] DeMille et al. Science 357, 990 (2017).
[Safr18] Safronova et al. Rev Mod Phys 90, 025008 (2018).
PRECIOSA
Photo-Resonance Excitation and Cavity Ionization Spectroscopy Apparatus
The primary goal of this project is the development of a novel laser spectroscopy experiment which will provide experimental access to the electromagnetic properties of key light nuclear systems that are currently out of reach for state-of-the-art methods. This new apparatus is expected to achieve an unprecedented combination of sensitivity and precision for the study of short-lived nuclei in different unexplored regions of the nuclear chart.
This experimental apparatus requires the integration of technological developments from three different fields: i) laser spectroscopy of exotic isotopes, ii) quantum optics (large-mode high-finesse optical cavities) and iii) photoelectron spectroscopy (electron detector). A simplified scheme (not to scale) is shown in the figure below.
This novel technique, which builds on the techniques that we have developed at CERN [1-4], offers a high degree of versatility and compactness, allowing it to be applied at different facilities worldwide such as FRIB (US), CERN (Switzerland), TRIUMF (Canada), GANIL-SPIRAL2 (France), GSI-FAIR (Germany) and Jyväskylä (Finland). Applications in other fields such as atomic and molecular spectroscopy, as well as applied research, are envisaged.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you are interested in this project.
[1] Garcia Ruiz et al . Physical Review X 8, 041005 (2018).
[2] Garcia Ruiz et al. Nature Physics 12, 594 (2016).
[3] Flanagan et al. Phys Rev Lett 111, 212501 (2013).
[4] Groote et al. Phys Rev Lett 115, 132501 (2015).