A NEW SEARCH FOR A PERMANENT DIPOLE MOMENT OF THE ELECTRON IN A SOLID STATE SYSTEM

Measurements of the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron and the electron put the most stringent constraints on new sources of CP violation. CP violation is essential for generating the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU). Many models which propose large CP-odd mechanisms for BAU predict EDMs that exceed the limits of the most sensitive measurements. We are conducting a high sensitivity search for the electron EDM using a solid state system. It promises orders of magnitude improvement over atomic beam experiments solely from the available electron density. We present the experimental design and report on the current status.