Synthesis and Cooling of ThO for Fundamental Symmetries Tests

Cold molecules with heavy constituent atoms are a powerful platform to search for violations of fundamental symmetries due to their enhanced sensitivity to physics beyond-Standard Model and the fast advancement in quantum control and quantum sensing. ²²⁷ThO is an excellent candidate for measuring electric dipole moments (EDM) due to relativistic enhancements from its large mass and octupole-deformed nuclear ground state. Our work here focuses on optimizing the production of ThO molecules in a cryogenic buffer gas beam source, followed by the subsequent quantum state control and laser fluorescence detection. We are investigating a series of precipitation reactions of Th(NO₃)₄ that produce ThO₂. This process will later apply to transfer thorium isotopes harvested from FRIB, which we then turn into ThO using a thermochemical reaction in the buffer gas cell. These methods provide pathways to production, cooling, and detection of ²²⁷ThO. This also offers a route towards future experiments with other radioactive species of interest for fundamental symmetries work.