2025/11/15 by Zack Lasner, Andrés León Ohl, Lasner, Zack D. +12
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Frequency and Time Standards #Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.11975
openalex publication_date 2025/11/15 · openalex created_date 2025/11/19 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We perform laser spectroscopy of dysprosium monoxide (DyO) to determine the hyperfine structure of the ground X8 and excited [17.1]7 states in the 161Dy and 163Dy isotopologues. These dysprosium nuclei have non-zero nuclear spin and dynamical octupole deformation, which gives them high sensitivity to time-reversal-violating new physics via the nuclear Schiff moment (NSM). The DyO molecule was recently identified as being amenable to optical cycling -- the basis for many laser cooling and quantum control techniques -- which makes it a practical candidate for NSM searches. The measurements reported here are prerequisites to implementing optical cycling, designing precision measurement protocols, and benchmarking calculations of molecular sensitivity to symmetry-violating effects. The measured hyperfine parameters are interpreted using simple molecular orbital diagrams and show excellent agreement with relativistic quantum chemical calculations.