In the Atomic, Molecular and Laser Physics Group of the LaserLaB in Amsterdam a position for a PhD-student is available on the following project:
Building a cryogenic source and guide for an eEDM experiment on BaF molecules
Your task will be to design, construct and test a high-intensity cryogenic source of BaF molecules and a lens system that guides the BaF molecules from the exit of the cryogenic source to the entrance of our Stark decelerator. Furthermore, you will perform test studies for a lens system for a BaF fountain.
The research is part of a program to measure the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron. This property, which is predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics to be extremely small, is a powerful probe to explore physics beyond this Standard Model. All extensions to the Standard Model, most prominently super-symmetry, naturally predict an electron EDM that is just below the current experimental limits. We aim to improve on the best current measurement by at least an order of magnitude. To do so we will perform a precision measurement on a slow beam of laser-cooled BaF molecules. With this low-energy precision experiment, we will test physics at energies comparable to those of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)!
The eEDM program research staff consists of Anastasia Borschevsky, Klaus Jungmann, Steven Hoekstra, Rob Timmermans and Lorenz Willmann from the Van Swinderen Institute for Particle Physics and Gravity (VSI) at the University of Groningen, and Rick Bethlem and Wim Ubachs from the Atoms, Molecules and Lasers group at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam. The cryogenic source will be build and tested in Amsterdam.
For more information, see
www.nikhef.nl/en/programs/eedm/
or contact Rick Bethlem ([log in to unmask]).