Speaker
Description
Ion traps have long been recognized as superb precision tools for fundamental physics research.
In contemporary nuclear physics, they are widely employed to prepare, control and study short lived radionuclides with high precision and accuracy. Over the last decade, Multi-Reflection Time-of-Flight (MR-ToF) mass separators have significantly gained in importance at radioactive ion beam (RIB) facilities due to their superb mass resolving powers of R=m/∆m>105 achieved in a few milliseconds.
As a novel application of MR-ToF devices, we are currently developing the Multi Ion Reflection Apparatus for Collinear Laser Spectroscopy (MIRACLS). In this approach, a fast ion beam is bouncing back and forth between the two electrostatic mirrors of an MR-ToF device such that the trapped ions are probed by a spectroscopy laser during each revolution. This boosts the experimental sensitivity by a factor of 30-600 compared to conventional, single-pass collinear laser
spectroscopy (CLS). MIRACLS will hence provide access to ’exotic’ radionuclides with very low production yields at RIB facilities.
While our initial work is focused on highly sensitive CLS for nuclear structure research, the novel experimental techniques developed within MIRACLS open unique opportunities for searches for new physics beyond the standard model of particle physics in radioactive molecules. The latter
have recently been identified as unexplored, yet highly sensitive probes for fundamental physics such as hitherto undiscovered permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs).
This talk will describe the MIRACLS concept, recent highlights as well as its potential for novel precision studies with radioactive molecules in the context of searches for new physics.
