Abstract
We use narrow-band laser excitation of Yb atoms to substantially enhance the brightness of a cold beam of YbOH, a polyatomic molecule with high sensitivity to physics beyond the standard model (BSM). By exciting atomic Yb to the metastable 3P1 state in a cryogenic environment, we significantly increase the chemical reaction cross-section for collisions of Yb with reactants. We characterize the dependence of the enhancement on the properties of the laser light, and study the final state distribution of the YbOH products. The resulting bright, cold YbOH beam can be used to increase the statistical sensitivity in searches for new physics utilizing YbOH, such as electron electric dipole moment and nuclear magnetic quadrupole moment experiments. We also perform new quantum chemical calculations that confirm the enhanced reactivity observed in our experiment and compare reaction pathways of Yb(3P) with the reactants H2O and H2O2. More generally, our work presents a broad approach for improving experiments that use cryogenic molecular beams for laser cooling and precision measurement searches of BSM physics.
Highlights
Cold, gas-phase molecules represent a rapidly growing resource for the generation of experiments in atomic, molecular, and optical physics
Our work presents a broad approach for improving experiments that use cryogenic molecular beams for laser cooling and precision measurement searches of beyond the standard model (BSM) physics
Since the probe light is always fixed at the same molecule transition, common factors such as cross section divide out, making the optical depth (OD) ratio directly sensitive to changes in molecule number density induced by the enhancement light
Summary
Gas-phase molecules represent a rapidly growing resource for the generation of experiments in atomic, molecular, and optical physics. Cryogenic buffer gas beam (CBGB) sources produce bright, slow molecular beams that are both translationally (T) and internally cold (Tint), typically with temperatures of T ≈ Tint ≈ 4 K In such sources, the molecular species of interest is introduced into a cryogenic cell containing a density-tuned, inert buffer gas (nearly always He or Ne). The molecular species is entrained within the cell in the buffer gas flow, and carried out of the cell through an aperture, forming a beam This cooling method is quite generic and can be applied to many species, from atoms to small bio-molecules, including highly reactive or refractory species [8]
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