The metastable Q $^3\Delta_2$ state of ThO: A new resource for the ACME electron EDM search

TL;DR

This paper investigates the metastable Q state of ThO molecules, demonstrating its suitability for enhancing electron EDM measurements by improving molecule detection and magnetometry in the ACME experiment.

Contribution

The study characterizes the Q state's properties, including its long lifetime, large electric and magnetic dipole moments, and efficient population transfer via STIRAP, providing new resources for electron EDM searches.

Findings

Q state lifetime is sufficiently long for ACME experiments.

Large electric dipole moment enables effective electrostatic focusing.

Achieved 90% efficiency in STIRAP population transfer.

Abstract

The best upper limit for the electron electric dipole moment was recently set by the ACME collaboration. This experiment measures an electron spin-precession in a cold beam of ThO molecules in their metastable $H~(^3\Delta_1)$ state. Improvement in the statistical and systematic uncertainties is possible with more efficient use of molecules from the source and better magnetometry in the experiment, respectively. Here, we report measurements of several relevant properties of the long-lived $Q~(^3\Delta_2)$ state of ThO, and show that this state is a very useful resource for both these purposes. The $Q$ state lifetime is long enough that its decay during the time of flight in the ACME beam experiment is negligible. The large electric dipole moment measured for the $Q$ state, giving rise to a large linear Stark shift, is ideal for an electrostatic lens that increases the fraction of molecules detected downstream. The measured magnetic moment of the $Q$ state is also large enough to be used as a sensitive co-magnetometer in ACME. Finally, we show that the $Q$ state has a large transition dipole moment to the $C~(^1\Pi_1)$ state, which allows for efficient population transfer between the ground state $X~(^1\Sigma^+)$ and the $Q$ state via $X-C-Q$ Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP). We demonstrate $90\,$% STIRAP transfer efficiency. In the course of these measurements, we also determine the magnetic moment of $C$ state, the $X\rightarrow C$ transition dipole moment, and branching ratios of decays from the $C$ state.