Rovibrational Spectroscopy of SrOH For Laser Cooling

Polyatomic molecules present rich opportunities for the study of fundamental physics. In contrast to diatomic molecules (or atoms), polyatomic molecules generically have additional structure within the ground electronic state that provides special advantages in searches for beyond-Standard-Model physics, such as probing for an electron electric dipole moment (EDM) and ultralight dark matter (UDM). To fully access the power of polyatomic molecules, they must be made ultracold and controllable at the single quantum state level. Our approach, laser cooling, is possible for certain classes of small molecules, including those with metal-oxygen-ligand (MOR) structure [1-3]. SrOH is one such MOR molecule, and specific vibrational states in the electronic ground states have been identified and proposed for precision probes of both the EDM and UDM [4,5]. We report here on high-resolution rovibrational spectroscopy of SrOH and on its use for laser cooling to create trapped gases of ultracold SrOH. We also outline the next steps for our developing UDM and EDM experiments using SrOH.

[1] M. D. DiRosa, Eur. Phys. J. D 31, 395, (2004)

[2] T. Isaev and R. Berger, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, (2016)

[3] I. Kozyryev et al., Chem. Phys. Chem 17, (2016)

[4] I. Kozyryev and N. R. Hutzler, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, (2017)

[5] I. Kozyryev et al., Phys. Rev. A. 103, (2021)