Polyatomic molecules as quantum sensors for fundamental physics

Abstract

Precision measurements in molecules have advanced rapidly in recent years through developments in techniques to cool, trap, and control. The complexity of molecules makes them a challenge to study, but also offers opportunities for enhanced sensitivity to many interesting effects. Polyatomic molecules offer additional complexity compared to diatomic molecules, yet are still "simple" enough to be lasercooled and controlled. While laser cooling molecules is still a research frontier itself, there are many proposed and ongoing experiments seeking to combine the advanced control enabled by ultracold temperatures with the intrinsic sensitivity of molecules. In this perspective, we discuss some applications where laser-cooled polyatomic molecules may offer advantages for precision measurements of fundamental physics, both within and beyond the Standard Model.

Electronic structure of the ytterbium monohydroxide molecule to search for axionlike particles

“…It was recently suggested to perform experiments to search for the electron electric dipole moment using linear triatomic molecules containing heavy atoms [21][22][23]. These molecules have a very small energy gap between opposite parity levels due to l-doubling effect [21,24]. This feature makes it possible to polarize them by the relatively weak electric field.…”

Visible light photonic integrated Brillouin laser

“…There is a need for visible wavelength lasers that are smaller and more reliable so that experiments can scale in the number of wavelengths, atoms or molecules, and complexity in general. Photonic integration provides a path to miniaturize these laser systems as well as improve their reliability 12 – 14 , reduce sensitivity to environmental disturbances, and enable systems with a larger number of entangled atoms 15 , 16 , higher sensitivity quantum sensors 6 , 17 , higher precision positioning, timing and navigation 18 , and probing of complex molecules 19 – 24 .…”

Fine and hyperfine interactions in 171YbOH and 173YbOH

“…Polar molecules have emerged as ideal systems to measure symmetry-violating physics in low energy, table top experiments [1][2][3][4] . The large internal fields and closely spaced opposite parity states present in molecules provide extreme sensitivity to both time reversal (T) violating and parity (P) violating physics 5,6 .…”

“…19 The coupling of new T, P-violating BSM physics to standard model particles will result in T, P-violating energy shifts in atoms and molecules. 1,3,4 The T, P-odd effective molecular…”

“…Polyatomic molecules offer several distinct advantages over diatomic molecules for precision measurements 4,7 . First, linear triatomic molecules generically have parity doublets, known as ldoublets, in their excited bending modes.…”