Fine and hyperfine interactions in $^{171}$YbOH and $^{173}$YbOH

TL;DR

This study characterizes the fine and hyperfine interactions in $^{171}$YbOH and $^{173}$YbOH molecules, providing experimental data crucial for precision measurements of fundamental symmetry violations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel spectroscopic technique and provides detailed hyperfine parameters, validating computational models for P,T-violating constants in YbOH isotopologues.

Findings

Hyperfine parameters agree with theoretical predictions.

Demonstrated laser-enhanced chemical reaction spectroscopy.

Provided data supporting P,T-violation measurements in YbOH.

Abstract

The odd isotopologues of ytterbium monohydroxide, $^{171,173}$YbOH, have been identified as promising molecules in which to measure parity (P) and time reversal (T) violating physics. Here we characterize the $\tilde{A}^{2}\Pi_{1/2}(0,0,0)-\tilde{X}^2\Sigma^+(0,0,0)$ band near 577 nm for these odd isotopologues. Both laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) excitation spectra of a supersonic molecular beam sample and absorption spectra of a cryogenic buffer-gas cooled sample were recorded. Additionally, a novel spectroscopic technique based on laser-enhanced chemical reactions is demonstrated and utilized in the absorption measurements. This technique is especially powerful for disentangling congested spectra. An effective Hamiltonian model is used to extract the fine and hyperfine parameters for the $\tilde{A}^{2}\Pi_{1/2}(0,0,0)$ and $\tilde{X}^2\Sigma^+(0,0,0)$ states. A comparison of the determined $\tilde{X}^2\Sigma^+(0,0,0)$ hyperfine parameters with recently predicted values (M. Denis, et al., J. Chem. Phys. $\bf{152}$, 084303 (2020), K. Gaul and R. Berger, Phys. Rev. A $\bf{101}$, 012508 (2020), J. Liu et al., J. Chem. Phys. $\bf{154}$, 064110 (2021)) is made. The measured hyperfine parameters provide experimental confirmation of the computational methods used to compute the P,T-violating coupling constants $W_d$ and $W_M$, which correlate P,T-violating physics to P,T-violating energy shifts in the molecule. The dependence of the fine and hyperfine parameters of the $\tilde{A}^{2}\Pi_{1/2}(0,0,0)$ and $\tilde{X}^2\Sigma^+(0,0,0)$ states for all isotopologues of YbOH are discussed and a comparison to isoelectronic YbF is made.