Université de Fribourg

Testing isotropy of the universe using the Ramsey resonance technique on ultracold neutron spins

Altarev, I. ; Ban, G. ; Bison, Georg ; Bodek, K. ; Daum, M. ; Fertl, M. ; Fierlinger, P. ; Franke, B. ; Gutsmiedl, E. ; Heil, W. ; Henneck, R. ; Horras, M. ; Khomutov, N. ; Kirch, K. ; Kistryn, S. ; Kraft, A. ; Knecht, A. ; Knowles, Paul E. ; Kozela, A. ; Lauer, T. ; Lauss, B. ; Lefort, T. ; Lemière, Y. ; Mtchedlishvili, A. ; Naviliat-Cuncic, O. ; Pazgalev, Anatoly S. ; Petzoldt, G. ; Piegsa, F.M. ; Pierre, E. ; Pignol, G. ; Quéméner, G. ; Rebetez, M. ; Rebreyend, D. ; Roccia, S. ; Schmidt-Wellenburg, P. ; Severijns, N. ; Sobolev, Yu. ; Weis, Antoine ; Zejma, J. ; Zenner, J. ; Zsigmond, G.

In: Physica B: Condensed Matter, 2011, vol. 406, no. 12, p. 2365-2369

Physics at the Planck scale could be revealed by looking for tiny violations of fundamental symmetries in low energy experiments. In 2008, a sensitive test of the isotropy of the universe has been performed with stored ultracold neutrons (UCN), this is the first clock-comparison experiment performed with free neutrons. During several days we monitored the Larmor frequency of neutron spins in a...

Université de Fribourg

Towards a new measurement of the neutron electric dipole moment

Altarev, I. ; Ban, G. ; Bison, Georg ; Bodek, K. ; Burghoff, M. ; Cvijovic, Milan ; Daum, M. ; Fierlinger, P. ; Gutsmiedl, E. ; Hampel, G. ; Heil, W. ; Henneck, R. ; Horras, M. ; Khomutov, N. ; Kirch, K. ; Kistryn, S. ; Knappe-Grüneberg, S. ; Knecht, A. ; Knowles, Paul E. ; Kozela, A. ; Kratz, J. V. ; Kuchler, F. ; Kuźniak, M. ; Lauer, T. ; Lauss, B. ; Lefort, T. ; Mtchedlishvili, A. ; Naviliat-Cuncic, O. ; Paul, S. ; Pazgalev, Anatoly S. ; Petzoldt, G. ; Pierre, E. ; Plonka-Spehr, C. ; Quéméner, G. ; Rebreyend, D. ; Roccia, S. ; Rogel, G. ; Sander-Thoemmes, T. ; Schnabel, A. ; Severijns, N. ; Sobolev, Yu. ; Stoepler, R. ; Trahms, L. ; Weis, Antoine ; Wiehl, N. ; Zejma, J. ; Zsigmond, G.

In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, 2009, p. -

The effort towards a new measurement of the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) at the Paul Scherrer Institut's (PSI) new high intensity source of ultracold neutrons (UCN) is described. The experimental technique relies on Ramsey's method of separated oscillatory fields, using UCN in vacuum with the apparatus at ambient temperature. In the first phase, R&D towards the upgrade of the...

Université de Fribourg

Laser-driven Cs magnetometer arrays for magnetic field measurement and control

Knowles, Paul ; Bison, Georg ; Castagna, Natascia ; Hofer, Adrian ; Mtchedlishvili, A. ; Pazgalev, Anatoly S. ; Weis, Antoine

In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, 2009///doi: 10.1016/j.nima.2009.07.079

High precision mapping of weak magnetic fields is of interest for several branches of pure and applied research. This paper presents a resume of the progress made at Fribourg in adapting laboratory style laser-pumped optical Cs magnetometers to multisensor field mapping problems. Progress has been made in sensor head design and manufacture, laser beam splitting and control, and signal treatment...

Université de Fribourg

Additional results from the first dedicated search for neutron–mirror–neutron oscillations

Bodek, K. ; Kistryn, S. ; Kuźniak, M. ; Zejma, J. ; Burghoff, M. ; Knappe-Grüneberg, S. ; Sander-Thoemmes, T. ; Schnabel, A. ; Trahms, L. ; Ban, G. ; Lefort, T. ; Naviliat-Cuncic, O. ; Khomutov, N. ; Knowles, Paul E. ; Pazgalev, Anatoly S. ; Weis, Antoine ; Rogel, G. ; Quéméner, G. ; Rebreyend, D. ; Roccia, S. ; Bison, Georg ; Severijns, N. ; Eberhardt, K. ; Hampel, G. ; Heil, W. ; Kratz, J.V. ; Lauer, T. ; Plonka-Spehr, C. ; Sobolev, Yu. ; Wiehl, N. ; Altarev, I. ; Fierlinger, P. ; Gutsmiedl, E. ; Paul, S. ; Stoepler, R. ; Daum, M. ; Henneck, R. ; Kirch, K. ; Knecht, A. ; Lauss, B. ; Mtchedlishvili, A. ; Petzoldt, G. ; Zsigmond, G.

In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, 2009///doi: 10.1016/j.nima.2009.07.047

The existence of a mirror world holding a copy of our ordinary particle spectrum could lead to oscillations between the neutron (n) and its mirror partner (n′). Such oscillations could manifest themselves in storage experiments with ultracold neutrons whose storage lifetime would depend on the applied magnetic field. Here, extended details and measurements from the first dedicated experimental...

Université de Fribourg

Experimental study of laser-detected magnetic resonance based on atomic alignment

Di Domenico, Gianni ; Bison, Georg ; Groeger, Stephan ; Knowles, Paul E. ; Pazgalev, Anatoly S. ; Rebetez, Martin ; Saudan, Hervé ; Weis, Antoine

In: Physical Review A, 2006, vol. 74, no. 6, p. 063415

We present an experimental study of the spectra produced by optical–radio-frequency double resonance in which resonant linearly polarized laser light is used in the optical pumping and detection processes. We show that the experimental spectra obtained for cesium are in excellent agreement with a very general theoretical model developed in our group [Weis, Bison, and Pazgalev, Phys. Rev. A 74,...

Université de Fribourg

Theory of double resonance magnetometers based on atomic alignment

Weis, Antoine ; Bison, Georg ; Pazgalev, Anatoly S.

In: Physical Review A, 2006, p. 033401

We present a theoretical study of the spectra produced by optical–radio-frequency double resonance devices, in which resonant linearly polarized light is used in the optical pumping and detection processes. We extend previous work by presenting algebraic results which are valid for atomic states with arbitrary angular momenta, arbitrary rf intensities, and arbitrary geometries. The only...

Université de Fribourg

Comparison of discharge lamp and laser pumped cesium magnetometers

Groeger, Stefan ; Pazgalev, Anatoly S. ; Weis, Antoine

In: Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, 2005, vol. 80(6), p. 645 - 654

We have performed a comparison of laser (LsOPM) and lamp (LpOPM) pumped cesium vapor magnetometers. Although the LsOPM operated 50% above its shot- noise limit we found an intrinsic sensitivity of 15 fT/√Hz and 25 fT/√Hz for the LsOPM and the LpOPM, respectively. Two modes of operation, viz. the phase-stabilized and the self-oscillating modes, were investigated and found to yield a similar...