Measurement of the Electric Dipole Moment of 171Yb Atoms in an Optical Dipole Trap

The permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of the 171Yb (I = 1/2) atom is measured with atoms held in an optical dipole trap. By enabling a cycling transition that is simultaneously spin-selective and spinpreserving, a quantum nondemolition measurement with a spin-detection efficiency of 50% is realized. A systematic effect due to parity mixing induced by a static E field is observed, and is suppressed by averaging between measurements with optical dipole traps in opposite directions. The coherent spin precession time is found to be much longer than 300 s. The EDM is determined to be d(171Yb) = (-6.8 +/- 5.1stat +/- 1.2syst) x 10-27 e cm, leading to an upper limit of d(171Yb) < 1.5 x 10-26 e cm (95% C.L.). These measurement techniques can be adapted to search for the EDM of 225Ra.

Automated summary

In this study, the permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of 171Yb atoms held in an optical dipole trap was measured. A spin-selective and spin-preserving cycling transition was used for a quantum nondemolition measurement with a spin-detection efficiency of 50%. The researchers observed a systematic effect caused by parity mixing induced by a static electric field, which was suppressed by averaging measurements in opposite directions. The measured EDM of 171Yb was found to be smaller than 1.5 x 10-26 e cm.