Exploring new Fundamental Physics by Precision Spectroscopy of Cold Molecules

by Pasquale Maddaloni (CNR-INO & INFN Sez. Firenze)

Wednesday 10 Dec 2014, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Rome

Rostagni meeting room (INFN-LNL)

Based on a sophisticated class of mid-infrared laser sources in conjunction with the emerging technologies for the direct cooling of stable molecules, we envisage a new generation of low-energy, high-precision tests of the Standard Model. In particular, we report on the construction of an experiment which assesses the time constancy of the proton-to-electron mass ratio by means of an ultra-accurate spectroscopic frequency measurement on a molecular beam generated by a buffer-gas-cooling machine. For this purpose, a two-photon Ramsey-fringes interrogation scheme will be adopted, where the probe laser is phase-locked to a specially-developed optical frequency comb that is ultimately referenced to the cesium primary standard via the National Optical Fiber Link.