title: Precision Zeeman-Stark spectroscopy of the metastable a1[3Sigma+] state of PbO.
abstract: The metastable a(1)[(3)Sigma(+)] state of PbO has been suggested as a suitable system in which to search for the electric dipole moment of the electron. We report here the development of experimental techniques allowing high-sensitivity measurements of Zeeman and Stark effects in this system, similar to those required for such a search. We observe Zeeman quantum beats in fluorescence from a vapor cell of PbO, with shot-noise limited extraction of the quantum beat frequencies, high counting rates, and long coherence times. We argue that improvement in sensitivity to the electron electric dipole moment by at least 2 orders of magnitude appears possible using these techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208120, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8120, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kawall
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bay
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bickman
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: DeMille