Searching for parity violation in trapped chiral molecular ions
Asst.-Prof. Dr. Yuval Shagam (Israel Institute of Technology)

The weak force is predicted to break the parity symmetry between left and right-handed chiral molecules, but so far the effect has eluded detection. We are developing a trapped chiral molecular ion version of the search for parity violation (PV). Our candidate molecule, CHDBrI+ is predicted to be preparable via state-selective ionization and to exhibit a large PV shift of a few Hz for the C-H bend vibrational transition, where the transition’s natural linewidth is narrower than the shift. Other transitions such as the C-H stretch are also predicted to have Hz level PV shifts between enantiomers.

We plan to probe the PV signature in a racemic, mixed-handedness ensemble of trapped CHDBrI+, using vibrational Ramsey spectroscopy. Our newly developed ion trap is integrated with a pulsed velocity map imaging detector to probe multiple internal state populations of the molecules by separating photo-fragment velocities. This technology will assist in overcoming the molecular complexity and help develop quantum control schemes for our molecule.

We will also discuss the advantages chiral molecules have in searches for new physics as well as the status of the experiment.