Short-Lived Radioactive Molecules
Precision measurements of molecular systems provide highly sensitive laboratories for exploring the possible violation of fundamental symmetries and search for new physics beyond the standard model physics [Barr14,Demi17,Safr18]. Radioactive molecules compound of heavy and deformed short-lived isotopes are predicted to offer unprecedented sensitivity to investigate parity and time reversal violation effects. However, the experimental knowledge of short-lived radioactive molecules is scarce, and quantum chemistry calculations has constituted the only source of spectroscopy information.
[Barr14] Barry, J. et al. Nature 512, 286 (2014).
[Demi17] DeMille et al. Science 357, 990 (2017).
[Safr18] Safronova et al. Rev Mod Phys 90, 025008 (2018).
Laboratory of Exotic Molecules and Atoms @ MIT
Our group is focused on the study of atoms and molecules containing short-lived radioactive nuclei for fundamental physics research. Precision measurements of their atomic and molecular structures provide a unique insight into the emergence of nuclear phenomena and the properties of nuclear matter at the limits of existence. Moreover, these radioactive systems have the potential to offer a new window for our exploration of the fundamental forces of nature and the search for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.