Hessels, Eric A.Corriveau, Zachary Adam2025-07-232025-07-232025-06-102025-07-23https://hdl.handle.net/10315/43088This dissertation reports the progress made towards measuring the electron's electric dipole moment (de) using a novel method dubbed the Electric Dipole Measurements using Molecules within a Matrix (EDM3) method, first proposed by the EDM3 collaboration. The measurement of a non-zero value of de has long been sought after as a measure of charge-parity violation, a phenomenon necessary to explain the observed asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the universe. This work presents the production of a beam of cold barium monofluoride (BaF) molecules using a buffer-gas-cooled laser-ablation source and the subsequent implantation of BaF molecules into neon solids suitable for use in a measurement of de. Identification of several electronic and vibrational excited states of BaF within a neon matrix is demonstrated and the characteristics of these states are studied. The rate of the excitation for BaF molecules excited to the B state is determined and this result is used to estimate a density of BaF molecules near the targeted value for a first measurement of de. Preliminary experiments demonstrate optical pumping of the embedded BaF molecules with circularly-polarized light. Further experiments show that the hyperfine structure of the ground state can be directly targeted using radio-frequency (RF) pulses that transfer population between the hyperfine states of the electronic ground state. These RF experiments show that population in the F=0, m=0 sublevel of the ground state can be maintained for times on the order of 3 ms in a neon matrix held at 5.8 K. With the results demonstrated in this work, the remaining task prior to a measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment using the EDM3 method will be to demonstrate precession and observe the coherence time associated with the solids produced. Further purification of the molecular beam will be necessary to reach the desired precession times of approximately 10 ms. Improvements to the apparatus are underway by the EDM3 group and their completion could remove the last barriers to a measurement of de.Author owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.PhysicsMolecular physicsAtomic physicsElectronic Thesis or Dissertation2025-07-23Molecular physicsBariumBarium monofluorideNeonInert-gas matrixMatrix isolationPrecision measurementElectronElectric dipole momentEDM3eEDM