Abstract

The measurement of the parity nonconserving transition amplitudes in atomic cesium has slowly improved over the past ten years. Recently it has been realized that atomic parity nonconservation is uniquely sensitive to new physics, which is expected to lie beyond the regime described by the Standard model of elementary particle interactions. This has led to intense interest in atomic parity nonconservation measurements within the elementary particle physics community. I will discuss the reasons for this interest and why improved experimental results are being awaited so eagerly, I will also discuss the present and future status of this field. Particular emphasis will be given to the potential improvements offered by laser cooling and trapping technology for these and other experiments that probe fundamental interactions.

© 1991 Optical Society of America