Measurement of a false electric dipole moment signal from ${}^{199}$Hg atoms exposed to an inhomogeneous magnetic field

Abstract

We report on the measurement of a Larmor frequency shift proportional to the electric-field strength for ${}^{199}\mathrm{Hg}$ atoms contained in a volume permeated with aligned magnetic and electric fields. This shift arises from the interplay between the inevitable magnetic field gradients and the motional magnetic field. The proportionality to electric-field strength makes it apparently similar to an electric dipole moment (EDM) signal, although unlike an EDM this effect is P- and T-conserving. We have used a neutron magnetic resonance EDM spectrometer, featuring a mercury co-magnetometer and an array of external cesium magnetometers, to measure the shift as a function of the applied magnetic field gradient. Our results are in good agreement with theoretical expectations.

References in corpus (11)

• An Improved Experimental Limit on the Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron
• Electric Dipole Moments of Nucleons, Nuclei, and Atoms: The Standard Model and Beyond
• Improved limit on the permanent electric dipole moment of 199Hg
• Detailed Discussion of a linear electric field frequency shift induced in confined gases by a magnetic field gradient: Implications for neutron electric dipole moment experiments
• Apparatus for Measurement of the Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron using a Cohabiting Atomic-Mercury Magnetometer
• Electric dipole moment searches: reexamination of frequency shifts for particles in traps
• A measurement of the neutron to 199Hg magnetic moment ratio
• Design and performance of an absolute ${}^3$He/Cs magnetometer
• Calculation of geometric phases in electric dipole searches with trapped spin-1/2 particles based on direct solution of the Schrödinger equation
• Geometric phases in electric dipole searches with spin-1/2 particles from spin dependent Schrödinger equation
• Measurement of Linear Stark Interference in 199Hg

Cited by in corpus (14)

• A Revised Experimental Upper Limit on the Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron
• The design of the n2EDM experiment
• Optically Pumped Cs Magnetometers Enabling a High-Sensitivity Search for the Neutron Electric Dipole Moment
• Magnetic field uniformity in neutron electric dipole moment experiments
• The n2EDM experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute
• Frequency shifts and relaxation rates for spin 1/2 particles moving in electromagnetic fields
• Spin dynamics investigations for the EDM experiment at COSY
• High-precision control of static magnetic field magnitude, orientation, and gradient using optically pumped vapour cell magnetometry
• All-Optical Single-Species Cesium Atomic Comagnetometer with Optical Free Induction Decay Detection
• How the minuscule can contribute to the big picture: the neutron electric dipole moment project at TRIUMF
• A magic magnetic field to measure the neutron electric dipole moment
• A prototype vector magnetic field monitoring system for a neutron electric dipole moment experiment
• A Three-step Model for Optimizing Coil Spacings Inside Cuboid-shaped Magnetic Shields
• Wigner-Eckart Theorem and the False EDM of ${}^{199}$Hg