On the feasibility of detecting parity non-conserving optical rotation at 639 nm in Sm I

Abstract

An experimental study has been made of the nearly degenerate, opposite parity states 4f 66s6p 7G1 and 4f 65d6s 7G1 in samarium to assess the feasibility of using the forbidden M1 transition from the 4f 66s 2 7F0 ground state to the 4f 65d6s 7G1 state for measuring parity non-conserving (PNC) effects. The authors conclude that detection of the PNC optical rotation is not feasible because of the high background rotation present at the M1 wavelength and also because the PNC signal itself would be significantly smaller than in existing PNC experiments. Consideration has also been given to the possibility of a novel optical rotation experiment on this transition, using crossed electric and magnetic fields. However, this too is concluded not to be feasible due to the difficulty in achieving a sufficiently large PNC signal. A general comment on the future of rare earth elements for PNC studies is made.