Description:

The bottom row of the periodic table is known for its radioactive elements, which compared to stable isotopes are little-explored.  Many heavy radioisotopes have exotic nuclei with features, such as octupole deformations, that grant them enhanced discovery potential.  Laser cooling and ion trapping allow for efficient use and precise measurements of radioisotopes.  In this context we'll discuss our recent work with laser-cooled radium ions.  This heavy species is promising for controlling heavy molecules at the level of single quantum states and studying them with high precision spectroscopy.  With trapped radium ions we have produced a number of radioactive molecules which are candidates for setting limits time symmetry violation (TSV) in nuclei.  We'll discuss our work towards a TSV measurement to address two problems: the Universe's matter-antimatter imbalance (baryogenesis) and the absence of charge conjugation and parity (CP) violation in strong interactions (the strong CP problem). Constraining TSV in nuclei and nucleons is intriguing, as such an experiment is sensitive to physics that addresses both problems through underlying hadronic interactions.

Andrew Jayich, Associate Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara

Host: Andrew Geraci