Dresden 2011 – scientific programme
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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 26: Poster III
A 26.47: Poster
Thursday, March 17, 2011, 16:00–18:30, P2
Laser Spectroscopy of Radium — •Bodhaditya Santra, Umakanth Dammalapati, Klaus Jungmann, and Lorenz Willmann — KVI, University of Groningen
Searches for permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs) of fundamental particles are sensitive probes of physics beyond the Standard Model. Fundamental EDMs can experience enhancements in atomic and molecular systems. In particular, isotopes of the heavy alkaline earth element radium exhibit the largest known enhancement factors for any atomic systems due to their atomic and nuclear structure. A sensitive search for EDMs will require an efficient use of the rare isotops, which are available from radioactive sources or at rare isotope facilities like TRIµP at KVI. Here, laser cooling and trapping methods play a crucial role. The main transitions from the ground state have been identified by laser spectroscopy. Nevertheless, the strongest cooling transitions 7s2 1S0 - 7s7p 1P1 suffers from strong leakage to metastable states, similar to the case of barium. We describe the experimental approach to determine the wavelength of the three needed repump transitions, which then will permit an efficient capture of radium atoms into a magneto optical trap.