Measurement of the 7s-8s M1 transition in laser-trapped francium

Studying fundamental symmetries at low and intermediate energies helps garner a more complete understanding of the Standard Model. In particular, atomic parity-violation tests the Standard Model at some of the lowest energies. Past results in cesium have provided the most accurate results for atomic parity-violation to date. Present results in ytterbium are reaching the accuracy levels of cesium, but have difficulties reconciling with theory due to complex atomic structures. This is why a proposed atomic parity-violation experiment in francium at TRIUMF could be advantageous. Parity-violating effects scales as ~ Z^2N, which favours francium (Z=87). Additionally, the hydrogen-like electronic configuration lends itself nicely to theoretical calculations. Furthermore, using the 7s-8s transition in francium to probe parity-violating effects is preferred due to heavily suppressed optical transitions, the caveat being the parity-violating transition is still smaller. The solution is to pair the parity-violating transition with a tunable Stark-induced transition in an interference experiment. However, coexisting with the parity-violating and Stark-induced transition is a small magnetic dipole transition. The 7s-8s transition is typically magnetic dipole forbidden, as it violates certain atomic selection rules. Nevertheless, due to the hyperfine interaction and relativistic effects there is a small mixing of states that allows for a magnetic dipole transition. Understanding this effect in francium is key for an atomic parity-violation experiment and for testing atomic theory. To date, cesium is the only alkali in which the magnetic dipole transition has been studied. The cesium results for the relativistic contribution to the magnetic dipole transition differs from theory by 15%. Hence, on our way to measure parity-violation we want to also investigate the magnetic dipole transition in francium. To do this we need to implement some key components to the existing apparatus t