LIF spectroscopy of ThF and the preparation of ThF+ for the JILA eEDM experiment

Ng, Kia Boon

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/97165 Copy

Description

Title

LIF spectroscopy of ThF and the preparation of ThF+ for the JILA eEDM experiment

Author(s)

Ng, Kia Boon

Contributor(s)

• Cornell, Eric
• Ye, Jun
• Cheng, Lan
• Shagam, Yuval
• Roussy, Tanya
• Cairncross, William
• Gresh, Dan
• Zhou, Yan

Issue Date

2017-06-19

Keyword(s)

Small molecules

Abstract

ThF$^{+}$ is a promising candidate for a second-generation molecular ion-based measurement of the permanent electric dipole moment of the electron (eEDM). Compared to the current HfF$^{+}$ eEDM experiment, ThF$^{+}$ has several advantages: (i) the eEDM-sensitive $^{3}Delta_1$ electronic state is the ground state, which facilitates a long measurement coherence time; (ii) its effective electric field (38 GV/cm) is 50% larger than that of HfF+, which promises a direct increase of the eEDM sensitivity; and (iii) the ionization energy of neutral ThF is lower than its dissociation energy, which introduces a greater flexibility for rotational state-selective photoionization via core-nonpenetrating Rydberg states. We use laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy to find suitable intermediate states required for the state selective ionization process. We present the results of our LIF spectroscopy of ThF, and our current progress on efficient ThF ionization and on ThF$^{+}$ dissociation.

Publisher

International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy

Type of Resource

text

Language

eng

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97165

DOI

https://doi.org/10.15278/isms.2017.MH08

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2017 Kia Boon Ng

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