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  • Precision measurement of th...
    Fenker, B; Behr, J A; Melconian, D; Anderson, R M A; Anholm, M; Ashery, D; Behling, R S; Cohen, I; Craiciu, I; Donohue, J M; Farfan, C; Friesen, D; Gorelov, A; McNeil, J; Mehlman, M; Norton, H; Olchanski, K; Smale, S; Thériault, O; Vantyghem, A N; Warner, C L

    New journal of physics, 07/2016, Letnik: 18, Številka: 7
    Journal Article

    We report a measurement of the nuclear polarization of laser-cooled, optically pumped 37K atoms which will allow us to precisely measure angular correlation parameters in the ${\beta }^{+}$-decay of the same atoms. These results will be used to test the V ₋ A framework of the weak interaction at high precision. At the Triumf neutral atom trap (Trinat), a magneto-optical trap confines and cools neutral 37K atoms and optical pumping spin-polarizes them. We monitor the nuclear polarization of the same atoms that are decaying in situ by photoionizing a small fraction of the partially polarized atoms and then use the standard optical Bloch equations to model their population distribution. We obtain an average nuclear polarization of $\bar{P}=0.9913\pm 0.0009$, which is significantly more precise than previous measurements with this technique. Since our current measurement of the β-asymmetry has $0.2 \% $ statistical uncertainty, the polarization measurement reported here will not limit its overall uncertainty. This result also demonstrates the capability to measure the polarization to $\lt 0.1 \% $, allowing for a measurement of angular correlation parameters to this level of precision, which would be competitive in searches for new physics.