Methods for measuring the electron EDM using ultracold YbF molecules

TL;DR

This paper proposes using ultracold YbF molecules with advanced cooling and trapping techniques to significantly enhance the precision of electron EDM measurements, potentially reaching the shot-noise limit.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive method combining laser cooling, magnetic focusing, and trapping of YbF molecules for improved eEDM measurement sensitivity.

Findings

Potential two to three orders of magnitude improvement in measurement precision

Feasibility of creating a magneto-optical trap and optical lattice for YbF molecules

Analysis of noise reduction and systematic effect control strategies

Abstract

Measurements of the electron's electric dipole moment (eEDM) are demanding tests of physics beyond the Standard Model. We describe how ultracold YbF molecules could be used to improve the precision of eEDM measurements by two to three orders of magnitude. Using numerical simulations, we show how the combination of magnetic focussing, two-dimensional transverse laser cooling, and frequency-chirped laser slowing, can produce an intense, slow, highly-collimated molecular beam. We show how to make a magneto-optical trap of YbF molecules and how the molecules could be loaded into an optical lattice. eEDM measurements could be made using the slow molecular beam or using molecules trapped in the lattice. We estimate the statistical sensitivity that could be reached in each case and consider how sources of noise can be reduced so that the shot-noise limit of sensitivity can be reached. We also consider systematic effects due to magnetic fields and vector light shifts and how they could be controlled.