Hudson J J, Sauer B E, Tarbutt M R, Hinds E A
Sussex Centre for Optical and Atomic Physics, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, United Kingdom.
Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Jul 8;89(2):023003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.023003. Epub 2002 Jun 19.
The most sensitive measurements of the electron electric dipole moment d(e) have previously been made using heavy atoms. Heavy polar molecules offer a greater sensitivity to d(e) because the interaction energy to be measured is typically 10(3) times larger than in a heavy atom. We have used YbF to make the first measurement of this kind. Together, the large interaction energy and the strong tensor polarizability of the molecule make our experiment essentially free of the systematic errors that currently limit d(e) measurements in atoms. Our first result d(e) = (-0.2+/-3.2)x10(-26)e cm is less sensitive than the best atom measurement but is limited only by counting statistics and demonstrates the power of the method.
此前关于电子电偶极矩d(e)的最灵敏测量是使用重原子进行的。重极性分子对d(e)具有更高的灵敏度，因为待测量的相互作用能通常比重原子中的相互作用能大10³倍。我们利用YbF首次进行了此类测量。分子的大相互作用能和强张量极化率相结合，使我们的实验基本上没有目前限制原子中d(e)测量的系统误差。我们的首个结果d(e) = (-0.2±3.2)×10⁻²⁶e·cm，其灵敏度低于最佳原子测量结果，但仅受计数统计限制，证明了该方法的有效性。
