Precision measurements with polar molecules: the role of the black body radiation

Nicolas Vanhaecke (1) , Olivier Dulieu (1)

1 LAC - Laboratoire Aimé Cotton

In the perspective of the outstanding developments of high-precision measurements of fundamental constants using polar molecules related to ultimate checks of fundamental theories, we investigate the possibly counterproductive role of the black body radiation on a series of diatomic molecules which would be trapped and observed for long durations. We show that the absorption of the black body radiation at room temperature may indeed limit the lifetime of trapped molecules prepared in a well-defined quantum state. Several examples are treated, corrresponding to pure rotational absorption, pure vibrational absorption or both. We also investigate the role of the black body radiation induced energy shift on molecular levels and how it could affect high-precision frequency measurements.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Nicolas Vanhaecke, Olivier Dulieu. Precision measurements with polar molecules: the role of the black body radiation. Molecular Physics, 2007, 105 (11-12), pp.1723-1731. ⟨10.1080/00268970701466261⟩. ⟨hal-00513112⟩