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Optical trapping of SrOH molecules for dark matter and T-violation searches

Hiromitsu Sawaoka*,†, Abdullah Nasir, Annika Lunstad, Mingda Li, Jack Mango, Zack D. Lasner‡, and John M. Doyle

  • *Contact author: hsawaoka@berkeley.edu
  • †Present address: Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
  • ‡Present address: IonQ, Inc., College Park, Maryland 20740, USA.
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 013100 – Published 29 January, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2h36-myzp

Abstract

We report an optical dipole trap of strontium monohydroxide (SrOH) with 1400(300) trapped molecules. Through optical pumping, we access vibrational states that are proposed for improved probes of the electron’s electric dipole moment (eEDM) and ultralight dark matter (UDM). For each of these states, the lifetime of trapped molecules is measured and found to be consistent with spontaneous radiative decay and blackbody excitation limits, making this platform viable for these eEDM and UDM searches.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 013100– Published 29 January, 2026
  • Received 3 September 2025
  • Accepted 17 December 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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