Precise measurements of trapped Cesium atoms in large electric fields

We have constructed an apparatus designed to measure the electric dipole moment (EDM) of laser-cooled cesium (Cs) atoms trapped in optical lattices. The apparatus can also measure other properties of Cs, including the ground state tensor polarizability (GSTP) and the differential Stark shift of the clock transitions. The Cs EDM measurement is sensitive to the electron EDM as well as other possible time reversal symmetry breaking electron-nucleus interactions. Since the GSTP is a third order effect, comparison of its measurement to calculations can be used to test parts of the atomic theory that is used to extract the weak charge from Cs parity violation measurements. The Stark shift measurement is proportional to the atomic response to the blackbody radiation, and so can be used to improve Cs clocks. We will describe our apparatus and explain our new Cs GSTP measurement, which represents a nearly two order of magnitude increase in precision over previous measurements. We will also discuss how we will carry out EDM measurements and differential Stark shift measurements with this apparatus.