(1) The 129Xe EDM is sensitive to the nuclear Schiff moment and the tensor electron-nucleon interaction ; in this sense it is complementary to octupole-deformed systems such as 225Ra or 223Rn (where the enhanced Schiff moment is expected to dominate), and to the neutron (in which the main contributions are purely hadronic). The FRM-II experiment relies on a high-performance magnetically shielded room, simultaneous spin-exchange polarization of 129Xe and the 3He co-magnetometer, LTc SQUID magnetometry, and novel vapor cells with silicon electrodes bonded to GE180 glass. We have observed T2* > 2700s for both species in such cells, with applied voltages of 10kV across a 2.5cm electrode gap.

(2) Optical magnetometry with diamagnetic systems is mainly limited by the high excitation energies for electronic states in closed-shell atoms ; the longest-wavelength E1 transition in 129Xe is at 147nm, well outside the reach of conventional light sources. This limitation can be relaxed by exploiting longer-wavelength nonlinear processes, especially two-photon transitions : 223Rn and 129Xe have multiple two-photon resonances at wavelengths longer than 250nm, which are available from both continuous-wave and pulsed lasers. I will discuss laser systems for driving these transitions, model experiments in similar atoms, and novel features such as spatial resolution that arise from this approach.

Contact : tellier@ill.fr