Elsevier, Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy, (300), p. 116-123, 2014
DOI: 10.1016/j.jms.2014.03.013
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We report the design of an experiment that aims to constrain, over a-few-year timescale, the fractional temporal variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio, β=mp/me , at a level of 10-15/yr by means of a spectroscopic frequency measurement on a beam of cold CF3H molecules. This is extracted from a buffer-gas-cooling source and then collimated by means of an electrostatic hexapole lens. Employed in a two-photon Ramsey-fringes interrogation scheme, the probe source is based on a mid-infrared quantum cascade laser, phase-locked to a specially-developed optical frequency comb that is ultimately referenced to the Cs primary standard via an optical fiber link.