Laser spectroscopy of cold molecules

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in high-resolution laser spectroscopy of cold molecules, highlighting its applications in fundamental physics tests, symmetry violations, and technological progress in laser and cold molecule techniques.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent experimental results and technological developments in the field of cold molecule laser spectroscopy.

Findings

Enhanced precision in fundamental constant measurements

Progress in symmetry violation experiments

Technological advancements in mid-infrared lasers

Abstract

This paper reviews the recent results in high-resolution spectroscopy on cold molecules. Laser spectroscopy of cold molecules addresses issues of symmetry violation, like in the search for the electric dipole moment of the electron and the studies on energy differences in enantiomers of chiral species; tries to improve the precision to which fundamental physical constants are known and tests for their possible variation in time and space; tests quantum electrodynamics, and searches for a fifth force. Further, we briefly review the recent technological progresses in the fields of cold molecules and mid-infrared lasers, which are the tools that mainly set the limits for the resolution that is currently attainable in the measurements.