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19–24 Oct 2025
Chateau Fairmont Whistler
America/Vancouver timezone

Photoassociation spectroscopy of francium molecules

23 Oct 2025, 11:00
20m
MacDonald AB (Fairmont Chateau Whistler)

MacDonald AB

Fairmont Chateau Whistler

Oral contributed talk Ion traps and laser techniques Ion traps & laser techniques II

Speaker

Louis Croquette (McGill University)

Description

Searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics re- quire new and innovative probes to push experimental sensitivities past their current limits. Francium silver (FrAg) is a designer molecule that offers en- hanced sensitivity to new physics, in particular to time-reversal violation inside the atomic nucleus when incorporating the octuple-deformed 223Fr isotope. As another attractive feature, FrAg can be assembled from laser-cooled Fr and Ag atoms, providing ultracold molecules for the anticipated physics studies [1]. The effective molecular formation, however, requires detailed understanding of low- energy scattering behaviours among all involved atom species, including the one between two Fr atoms. This talk will detail previous experiments and present upgrades to TRIUMF’s francium trapping facility [2] which allow one to access this scattering behaviour through photoassociation studies.

1] J. Klos, H. Li, E. Tiesinga, and S. Kotochigova, “Prospects for assembling ultracold radioactive molecules from laser-cooled atoms,” New Journal of Physics, vol. 24, p. 025005, Feb 2022.
[2] M. Tandecki, J. Zhang, R. Collister, S. Aubin, J. A. Behr, E. Gomez, G. Gwinner, L. A. Orozco, and M. R. Pearson, “Commissioning of the francium trapping facility at TRIUMF,” Journal of Instrumentation, vol. 8, p. P12006, Dec 2013.

Supervisor's Name Stephan Malbrunot-Ettenauer
Supervisor's email sette@triumf.ca
Classification Ion traps and laser techniques

Primary author

Louis Croquette (McGill University)

Co-authors

A. Jamison (University of Waterloo) A. Lagno (University of Waterloo) A. Okell (University of Waterloo) A. Sharma (TRIUMF) E. Frieling (TRIUMF) F. Buchinger (McGill University) G. Arrowsmith-Kron (TRIUMF) Gerald Gwinner (University of Manitoba) Iris Halilovic (University of Manitoba) K. Madison (University of British Columbia) O. Budu (TRIUMF & University of Manitoba) Stephan Malbrunot-Ettenauer (TRIUMF)

Presentation materials