Spectroscopy of short-lived radioactive molecules

Area of Science:

• Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Nuclear Physics
• Particle Physics

Background:

• Radioactive molecules offer unique opportunities to test fundamental laws of nature and search for new physics.
• Radium monofluoride (RaF) is a promising candidate for high-precision spectroscopy due to its electronic structure and potential for laser cooling.
• Studies of RaF have been limited by the lack of stable radium isotopes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an experimental method for studying short-lived radioactive molecules.
• To measure the properties of isotopically pure RaF molecules.
• To assess the feasibility of laser cooling for RaF in precision measurements.

Main Methods:

• Development of an experimental approach for studying radioactive molecules with millisecond lifetimes.
• Collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy at the ISOLDE facility (CERN).
• Measurement of energetically low-lying electronic states for various RaF isotopes.

Main Results:

• Successful measurement of RaF molecules with lifetimes of tens of milliseconds.
• Demonstration of a viable laser-cooling scheme for RaF.
• Acquisition of data on electronic states of isotopically pure RaF.

Conclusions:

• The developed method enables the study of short-lived radioactive molecules, overcoming previous limitations.
• The findings represent a significant step towards high-precision spectroscopic studies of RaF.
• This research opens avenues for exploring parity and time-reversal violation and searching for new fundamental physics.