Towards improved measurements of parity violation in atomic ytterbium

Abstract

We report on progress towards performing precision measurements of parity violation in Yb, in which the theoretical prediction for a strong weak-interaction-induced effect in the 6s^{2} ^{1}S_{0} \rightarrow 5d6s ^{3}D_{1} optical transition at 408 nm has already been confirmed, with a measurement of the effect at the \approx 10 % level of accuracy. With a new atomic-beam apparatus offering enhanced sensitivity, we are aiming at precisely determining the parity violation observable in Yb, which will allow us to probe the distributions of neutrons in different isotopes, investigate physics beyond the Standard Model, as well as to study intra-nucleus weak interactions, through an observation of the anapole moment of Yb nuclei with nonzero spin. We present the experimental principle employed to probe atomic parity violation, describe our new apparatus, and discuss the attained experimental sensitivity as well as the methods for characterizing systematics in these measurements.

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• Nuclear spin-dependent parity-violating effects in light polyatomic molecules
• Measuring Nuclear Spin Dependent Parity Violation With Molecules: Experimental Methods and Analysis of Systematic Errors
• The nuclear anapole moment interaction in BaF from relativistic coupled cluster theory
• Hyperfine constants and line separations for the ${}^1{S}_0-{}^3{P}_1$ intercombination line in neutral ytterbium with sub-Doppler resolution
• Weak quadrupole moments
• Isotopic variation of parity violation in atomic ytterbium: method of measurements and analysis of systematic effects
• Lineshape-asymmetry elimination in weak atomic transitions driven by an intense standing wave field
• Parity and time-reversal symmetry violation in diatomic molecules: LaO, LaS and LuO
• Comment on "Laser cooling of ${}^{173}$Yb for isotope separation and precision hyperfine spectroscopy"