The electric dipole moment of the electron (eEDM) can be measured with high precision using heavy polar molecules. In this paper, we report on a series of new techniques that have improved the statistical sensitivity of the YbF eEDM experiment. We increase the number of molecules participating in the experiment by an order of magnitude using a carefully designed optical pumping scheme. We also increase the detection efficiency of these molecules by another order of magnitude using an optical cycling scheme. In addition, we show how to destabilise dark states and reduce backgrounds that otherwise limit the efficiency of these techniques. Together, these improvements allow us to demonstrate a statistical sensitivity of 1.8 × 10 −28 e cm after one day of measurement, which is 1.2 times the shot-noise limit. The techniques presented here are applicable to other high-precision measurements using molecules. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd on behalf of the Institute of Physics and Deutsche Physikalische GesellschaftNew J. Phys. 22 (2020) 053031 C J Ho et alfactors of E eff /E ext = 120 and −585 respectively 4 . The linear dependence of E eff on E ext indicates that the atoms are only weakly polarised in the external electric field. In polar molecules, the interaction energy is larger because it is easier to polarise these molecules in an electric field. It is more appropriate to write E eff = ηE eff,max for molecules, where η is the degree of polarisation of the molecule, and E eff,max is the maximum effective field seen by the electron when the molecule is fully polarised, η = 1. The latter is typically in the range 10 GV cm −1 to 100 GV cm −1 , which is much larger than electric fields that can be applied in the laboratory.In 2011, the precision of atomic measurements was surpassed in an experiment using YbF, setting a new upper limit 5 of |d e | < 1.06 × 10 −27 e cm [10]. The enhancement of YbF was E eff ≈ −14.5 GV cm −1 . Crucially, a systematic effect which is large for atoms-the Zeeman interaction with the motional magnetic field mimicking the EDM interaction-is highly suppressed in molecules due to their strong tensor polarisability [11]. In 2014, the ACME collaboration pushed the limit down to |d e | < 8.7 × 10 −29 e cm using a beam of ThO molecules in an Ω-doublet state [12]. Molecules in this state are fully polarised in a small applied electric field, giving E eff = E eff,max ≈ 84 GV cm −1 . The Ω-doublet can also be used conveniently for internal co-magnetometry. In 2017, a measurement using trapped HfF + molecular ions (E eff ≈ 23 GV cm −1 ) reported the limit |d e | < 1.3 × 10 −28 e cm [13]. This experiment benefited from the long coherence times available in a molecular ion trap, but was limited by the relatively low number of ions trapped. In 2018, the ACME collaboration improved on their limit, reaching |d e | < 1.1 × 10 −29 e cm [14]. This last result constrains any new physics arising from T-violating effects to energy scales above 3 TeV [14].Many new ideas are now emerging on ho...

Aluminium monofluoride (AlF) is a promising candidate for laser cooling and trapping at high densities. We show efficient production of AlF in a bright, pulsed cryogenic buffer gas beam, and demonstrate rapid optical cycling on the Q rotational lines of the A 1Π ↔ X 1Σ+ transition. We measure the brightness of the molecular beam to be >1012 molecules per steradian per pulse in a single rotational state and present a new method to determine its velocity distribution in a single shot. The photon scattering rate of the optical cycling scheme is measured using three different methods, and is compared to theoretical predictions of the optical Bloch equations and a simplified rate equation model. Despite the large number of Zeeman sublevels (up to 216 for the Q(4) transition) involved, a high scattering rate of at least 17(2) × 106 s−1 can be sustained using a single, fixed-frequency laser without the need to modulate the polarisation. We deflect the molecu-lar beam using the radiation pressure force and measure an acceleration of 8.7(1.5) × 105 m s−2. Losses from the optical cycle due to vibrational branching to X 1Σ+, v″ = 1 are addressed efficiently with a single repump laser. Further, we investigate two other loss channels, parity mixing by stray electric fields and photo-ionisation. The upper bounds for these effects are sufficiently low to allow loading into a magneto‐optical trap.

Adult human exocrine pancreas differentiation to hepatocytes -potential source of a human hepatocyte progenitor for use in toxicology research. Toxicology Research 2013, 2(1), 80-87. Fairhall et al In vitro hepatocyte generation 3Reduction in the use of animals in Toxicology is an important goal despite the continued need to assess drug and chemical safety in man. However, a limitation to in vitro screening for drug and chemical toxicity is the lack of available human hepatocytes and the difficulties associated with generating fully functional hepatocytes from stem cells. Previously, we have shown that a rat pancreatic acinar cell line is capable of trans-differntiating into fully functional hepatocyte-like cells in response to glucocorticoid via a serine/threonine protein kinase mechanism alone. Here we demonstrated that differentiation only occurs with glucocorticoids, not other steroids. We also investigated the potential of human pancreatic cells to undergo the same process. Analysis of adult human pancreata at the level of mRNA, protein and by immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that long term systemic exposure to glucocorticoid therapy resulted in differentiation of exocrine tissue to hepatocyte-like tissue. Glucocorticoid treatment of human pancreatic acinar cells in culture also resulted in trans-differentiation to hepatocyte-like cells. Both in vivo and in vitro, transdifferentiation of pancreas cells to hepatocytes was associated with an induction of SGK1 variant transcripts that have been previously shown to drive B-13 differentiation to hepatocytes. Adult exocrine human pancreas therefore responds in a similar qualitative fashion to that previously observed in rodents exposed to elevated glucocorticoidthat of a differentiation into hepatocytelike cells. Understanding the enhanced response of B-13 cells to glucocorticoid and engineering this response in a replicating human acinar cell could generate an unlimited supply of functional human hepatocytes in vitro that could be useful in a variety of applications, including screening drugs and chemicals for hepatic metabolism and toxicity.

We demonstrate a trap that confines polarizable particles around the antinode of a standing-wave microwave field. The trap relies only on the polarizability of the particles far from any resonances, so can trap a wide variety of atoms and molecules in a wide range of internal states, including the ground state. The trap has a volume of about 10 cm 3 , and a depth approaching 1 K for many polar molecules. We measure the trap properties using 7 Li atoms, showing that when the input microwave power is 610 W, the atoms remain trapped with a 1/e lifetime of 1.76(12) s, oscillating with an axial frequency of 28.55(5) Hz and a radial frequency of 8.81(8) Hz. The trap is particularly well suited to sympathetic cooling and evaporative cooling of molecules.

We report on hyperfine-resolved laser spectroscopy of the A2Π ← X2Σ+ transition of magnesium monofluoride (MgF), relevant for laser cooling. We recorded 25 rotational transitions with an absolute accuracy of better than 20 MHz, assigned 56 hyperfine lines, and determined precise rotational, fine, and hyperfine structure parameters for the A2Π state. The radiative lifetime of the A2Π state was determined to be 7.2(3) ns, in good agreement with ab initio calculations. The transition isotope shift between bosonic isotopologues of the molecule is recorded and compared to predicted values within the Born–Oppenheimer approximation. We measured the Stark effect of selected rotational lines of the A2Π ← X2Σ+ transition by applying electric fields of up to 10.6 kV cm−1 and determined the permanent electric dipole moments of 24MgF in its ground X2Σ+ and first excited A2Π states to be μ X = 2.88(20) D and μ A = 3.20(22) D, respectively. Based on these measurements, we caution for potential losses from the optical cycling transition due to electric field induced parity mixing in the excited state. In order to scatter 104 photons, the electric field must be controlled to below 1 V cm−1.