Precision Measurement of Time-Reversal Symmetry Violation with Laser-Cooled Polyatomic Molecules

Understand

Precision searches for time-reversal symmetry violating interactions in polar molecules are extremely sensitive probes of high energy physics beyond the Standard Model.

• To extend the reach of these probes into the PeV regime, long coherence times and large count rates are necessary.
• Recent advances in laser cooling of polar molecules offer one important tool -- optical trapping.
• However, the types of molecules that have been laser-cooled so far do not have the highly desirable combination of features for new physics searches, such as the ability to fully polarize and the existence of internal co-magnetometer states.