Precision Zeeman-Stark spectroscopy of the metastable a1[3Sigma+] state of PbO.
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.
Kawall
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Department of Physics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208120, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8120, USA.
Bay
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Bickman
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Jiang
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DeMille
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