Using ultracold radioactive jewelry to search for new physics
As the search for Beyond the Standard Model physics continues, increasingly sensitive tools are required to reveal cracks in the foundation. We are developing an experiment to assemble ultracold francium silver (FrAg) molecules to search for CP-violating physics via measurements of the francium Nuclear Schiff Moment. Molecules containing octupole deformed nuclei, such as Fr-221 and Fr-223, enhance sensitivity to new CP-violating physics. By using standard bi-alkali molecule assembly techniques, we aim to form large ensembles of FrAg molecules with ~10 s nuclear spin coherence times. These statistics correspond to probing new CP-violating particles with masses up to ~200 TeV. Achieving this goal requires significant groundwork, including gaining full quantum control of ultracold silver and developing offline laboratory-based sources of francium. I will present progress on both fronts, including the first-ever observations of Feshbach resonances in silver.

