Towards continuous load and readout of the JILA Generation III eEDM experiment

The third generation (Gen. III) apparatus for the measurement of the electron electric dipole moment (eEDM) at JILA utilizes ThF⁺, whose eEDM sensitive state is expected to provide an extended coherence time compared to HfF⁺ in JILA Gen. II[1,2,3]. We have demonstrated a coherence time of 14 seconds. To fully capitalize on the extended coherence time, we are developing a continuous loading and readout scheme for ThF+, aimed at increasing the experimental duty cycle without reducing the interrogation time. This approach introduces unique challenges, such as ion heating during transport, generation of a uniform bias magnetic field, state preparation pulses, merge and separation of ion clouds, and control system design. We outline our strategies for addressing these challenges in the next iteration of the JILA Gen. III experiments.

[1] Gresh, Daniel N. et al. Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy 319 (2016): 1-9.

[2] Zhou, Yan et al. J. Mol. Spec. 358, (2019) 1-16.

[3] Ng, Kia Boon et al. Phys. Rev. A 105, 022823.