Search for a ^129Xe Electric Dipole Moment
Abstract
Spin exchange pumped ^3He and ^129Xe masers are used to search for a CP-violating electric dipole moment (EDM) of ^129Xe. The two-species ^3He/^129Xe maser is constructed with a double bulb glass cell. In the pump bulb, the nuclear spins of both species are polarized by collisional hyperfine exchange with laser optically pumped Rb atoms. In the maser bulb, the spins of each species are coupled to coils tuned to both the ^3He and ^129Xe nuclear Zeeman frequencies at about 0.3 mT. Continuous maser oscillations are sustained while an electric field is applied to the maser cell. An observed relative frequency shift between the ^129Xe and ^3He masers, induced by the electric field, would be effectively proportional to the EDM of ^129Xe becasue the effects of CP violation scale as Z^2-Z^3. The use of ^3He, the second species, allows rejection of many common mode systematic effects incuding those arising from leakage currents, clock instability, and variations in the applied magnetic field. Two separate, similar two-species maser systems have been constructed at UM and SAO, and measurement is underway with electric fields up to 5 kV/cm. Current sensitivity is ≈ 5×10-27 e-cm, and we expect EDM sensitivity much less than 10-27 e-cm from the combined UM and SAO results. In addition to the confidence provided by the ^129Xe-^3He comparison, extensive systematic checks have been applied.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Nuclear Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- October 1999
- Bibcode:
- 1999APS..DNP..IF07C