We are looking for a talented PhD student to join us on a new experimental
project at the Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut (KVI) in Groningen, The
Netherlands. Our new research group plans to investigate fundamental
symmetries and interactions through the study of ‘cold molecules’.
At the KVI we use precision techniques to study (radioactive) atoms and
ions, involving atomic and nuclear physics with theoretical support. A new
research activity that has very recently been started is the study of cold
neutral molecules. Cold molecules are molecules that we have complete
control over; not only their velocity, but also their internal state is very
well defined. As the ideal experiment one can think of a high-resolution
spectroscopic measurement on a sample of ultracold trapped molecules which
are all in the same quantum state. In this project we will construct the
required apparatus to achieve this goal, and aim towards a measurement of a
tiny predicted (yet until now unobserved) effect of parity violation in
molecules. For this application the cold molecule can be seen as a small
laboratory that is used as a magnifying glass to show the subtle effects of
the weak interaction.