Systematics in a measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment using trapped molecular ions

POSTER

Abstract

A precision measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment (EDM) has important implications for physics beyond the Standard Model. Trapped molecular ions offer high sensitivity in such an experiment because of the large effective electric fields and long coherence times that are possible. Our experiment uses Ramsey spectroscopy of HfF$^+$ ions in a linear RF trap with rotating bias fields, achieving coherence times beyond 1 second for 1000 trapped ions. Compared to other electron EDM experiments that use molecular beams, we will be sensitive to a different class of systematic errors. In this work we investigate systematic errors arising from all fields involved in the experiment, including the trapping and polarizing electric fields, magnetic field gradients, and motional effects such as geometric phases.

*This work was supported by NIST and NSF

Authors

  • Matt Grau

    • JILA/University of Colorado-Boulder
  • Kevin Cossel

    • JILA/University of Colorado-Boulder
  • William Cairncross

    • JILA/University of Colorado-Boulder
  • Dan Gresh

    • JILA/University of Colorado-Boulder
  • Yan Zhou

    • JILA/University of Colorado-Boulder
  • Jun Ye

    • JILA/University of Colorado-Boulder
    • JILA, NIST, CU Boulder
  • Eric Cornell

    • JILA/University of Colorado-Boulder
    • JILA, CU-Boulder and NIST