Studying fundamental physics using quantum enabled technologies with trapped molecular ions

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential of using quantum logic spectroscopy on trapped molecular ions to explore fundamental physics, including parity violation and variations in fundamental constants, building on initial proposals from 2008-2009.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of quantum logic spectroscopy to molecular ions for fundamental physics research, extending techniques previously used only with atomic ions.

Findings

Proposed using QLS on molecular ions for fundamental tests

Reviewed progress in quantum spectroscopy since initial proposal

Outlined future directions for experimental realization

Abstract

The text below was written during two visits that Daniel Segal made at Universit{\'e} Paris 13. Danny stayed at Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers the summers of 2008 and 2009 to participate in the exploration of a novel lead in the field of ultra-high resolution spectroscopy. Our idea was to probe trapped molecular ions using Quantum Logic Spectroscopy (QLS) in order to advance our understanding of a variety of fundamental processes in nature. At that time, QLS, a ground-breaking spectroscopic technique, had only been demonstrated with atomic ions. Our ultimategoals were new approaches to the observation of parity violation in chiral molecules and tests of time variations of the fundamental constants. This text is the original research proposal written eight years ago. We have added a series of notes to revisit it in the light of what has been since realized in the field.