Related papers: Cold Molecule Spectroscopy for Constraining the Ev…
We report on progress towards a measurement of the fine structure constant to an accuracy of $5\times 10^{-10}$ or better by measuring the ratio of the Planck constant to the mass of the cesium atom. Compared to similar experiments, ours is…
We explore the uses of ultracold molecules as a platform for future experiments in the field of quantum simulation, focusing on two molecular species, $^{40}$Ca$^{19}$F and $^{87}$Rb$^{133}$Cs. We report the development of coherent quantum…
The operation of atomic clocks is generally carried out at room temperature, whereas the definition of the second refers to the clock transition in an atom at absolute zero. This implies that the clock transition frequency should be…
We report the direct detection of two metastable H(2S) atoms coming from the dissociation of a single cold H_2 molecule, in coincidence measurements. The molecular dissociation was induced by electron impact in order to avoid limitations by…
We describe a high-performance, compact optical frequency standard based on a microfabricated Rb vapor cell and a low-noise, external cavity diode laser operating on the Rb two-photon transition at 778 nm. The optical standard achieves an…
We report the most accurate measurement of the position of the weak quadrupole S(2) 2-0 line in D$_2$. The spectra were collected with a frequency-stabilized cavity ring-down spectrometer (FS-CRDS) with an ultra-high finesse optical cavity…
The interstellar hydride hydroxyl (OH) is a potential tracer of CO-dark molecular gas. We present new absorption line observations of OH at 18-cm wavelength towards four continuum sources. We compare these to the [CII] line at 1.9 THz…
We investigate the microwave spectra of ultracold alkali metal dimers in magnetic, electric and combined fields, taking account of the hyperfine structure due to the nuclear spins. We consider the molecules 41K87Rb and 7Li133Cs, which are…
The saturated absorption spectrum of the hyperfine-less S(0) quadrupole line in the (2-0) band of H$_2$ is measured at $\lambda=1189$ nm, using the NICE-OHMS technique under cryogenic conditions (72~K). It is for the first time that a Lamb…
Atomic physics was revolutionized by the development of forced evaporative cooling: it led directly to the observation of Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum-degenerate Fermi gases, and ultracold optical lattice simulations of condensed…
Electric-field-controlled F\"orster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between Rydberg helium (He) atoms and ground-state ammonia (NH$_3$) molecules has been studied at translational temperatures below 100 mK. The experiments were performed…
Radio-frequency electric-dipole transitions between nearly degenerate, opposite parity levels of atomic dysprosium (Dy) were monitored over an eight-month period to search for a variation in the fine-structure constant, $\alpha$. The data…
Theories unifying gravity and other interactions suggest the possibility of spatial and temporal variation of physical ``constants'' in the Universe. Detection of high-redshift absorption systems intersecting the sight lines towards distant…
We use Bloch oscillations to transfer coherently many photon momenta to atoms. Then we can measure accurately the ratio h/m_Rb and deduce the fine structure constant alpha. The velocity variation due to the Bloch oscillations is measured…
We describe a technique for deriving effective temperatures, surface gravities, rotation velocities, and radial velocities from high resolution near-IR spectra. The technique matches the observed near-IR spectra to spectra synthesized from…
$^{1}$H-NMR spin-echo measurements of the spin-echo decay $M(2\tau)$ with a decay rate 1/$T_{2}$ and the frequency shift $\Delta\nu/\nu_{0}$ under applied magnetic field $\mathbf{B}$$_{0}$ = 9 T along the a-axis over a temperature range…
The rotational spectrum of the molecular ion HCNH+ is revisited using double-resonance spectroscopy in an ion trap apparatus, with six transitions measured between 74 and 445 GHz. Due to the cryogenic temperature of the trap, the hyperfine…
The inherent sensitivity of quantum sensors to their physical environment can make them good reporters of parameters such as temperature, pressure, strain, and electric fields. Here, we present a molecular platform for pressure (P) and…
A novel phase modulation parallel optical delay detector is proposed for microwave angle-of-arrival (AOA) measurement with accuracy monitored by using only one dual-electrode Mach-Zenhder modulator. A theoretical model is built up to…
The ground state hyperfine splitting in positronium, $\Delta _{\mathrm{HFS}}$, is sensitive to high order corrections of QED. A new calculation up to $O(\alpha ^3)$ has revealed a $3.9 \sigma$ discrepancy between the QED prediction and the…