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arXiv · 2511.11975

Hyperfine-Resolved Spectroscopy of Dysprosium Monoxide (DyO) for Precision Measurements of the Nuclear Schiff Moment

Zack D. Lasner·Aidan T. Ohl·Nicole M. Albright·Kendall L. Rice·Charlene Peng·Lan Cheng·John M. Doyle·Benjamin L. Augenbraun
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Abstract

We perform laser spectroscopy of dysprosium monoxide (DyO) to determine the hyperfine structure of the ground X8 and excited [17.1]7 states in the $^{161}$Dy and $^{163}$Dy isotopologues. These dysprosium nuclei have non-zero nuclear spin and dynamical octupole deformation, which gives them high sensitivity to time-reversal-violating new physics via the nuclear Schiff moment (NSM). The DyO molecule was recently identified as being amenable to optical cycling -- the basis for many laser cooling and quantum control techniques -- which makes it a practical candidate for NSM searches. The measurements reported here are prerequisites to implementing optical cycling, designing precision measurement protocols, and benchmarking calculations of molecular sensitivity to symmetry-violating effects. The measured hyperfine parameters are interpreted using simple molecular orbital diagrams and show excellent agreement with relativistic quantum chemical calculations.

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Zack D. Lasner, Aidan T. Ohl, Nicole M. Albright, Kendall L. Rice, Charlene Peng, Lan Cheng, John M. Doyle, Benjamin L. Augenbraun. 2025-11-15. Hyperfine-Resolved Spectroscopy of Dysprosium Monoxide (DyO) for Precision Measurements of the Nuclear Schiff Moment. https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.11975

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