Probing weak force induced parity violation by high resolution mid-infrared molecular spectroscopy

Sean K. Tokunaga (1) , Clara Stoeffler (2, 3) , Frédéric Auguste (2) , Alexander Shelkovnikov (2, 4) , Christophe Daussy (2) , Anne Amy-Klein (2) , Christian Chardonnet (1) , Benoît Darquié (2)

1 MMTF
2 LPL - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers
3 GSMA - Groupe de spectrométrie moléculaire et atmosphérique
4 LPI RAS - P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences [Moscow]

To date no experiment has reached the level of sensitivity required to observe weak nuclear force induced parity violation (PV) energy differences in chiral molecules. In this paper, we present the approach, adopted at Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers (LPL), to measure frequency differences in the vibrational spectrum of enantiomers. We review different spectroscopic methods developed at LPL leading to the highest resolutions, as well as 20 years of CO2 laser stabilization work enabling such precise measurements. After a first attempt to observe PV vibrational frequency shifts using sub-Doppler saturated absorption spectroscopy in a cell, we are currently aiming at an experiment based on Doppler-free two-photon Ramsey interferometry on a supersonic beam. We report on our latest progress towards observing PV with chiral organo-metallic complexes containing a heavy rhenium atom.

Mots clés: parity violation; molecules; high-resolution spectrosccopy; mid infrared

Domaines: Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

Sean K. Tokunaga, Clara Stoeffler, Frédéric Auguste, Alexander Shelkovnikov, Christophe Daussy, et al.. Probing weak force induced parity violation by high resolution mid-infrared molecular spectroscopy. Molecular Physics, 2013, 111 (14-15), pp.2363-2373. ⟨hal-00864548⟩