Experimental search for the electron Electric Dipole Moment using solid state techniques

We report results of an experimental search for the permanent Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) of the electron using a solid state system. The experiment uses a paramagnetic insulator (gadolinium gallium garnet) with a large magnetic response at low temperatures. The presence of the electron EDM leads to a finite magnetization when the garnet sample is subjected to a strong electric field. The resulting magnetization can be measured using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) as a magnetometer. With considerable efforts made towards controlling various sources of systematic effects, the experiment is currently free of spurious signals larger than the SQUID noise. We report the value of electron EDM of (-5.57 ± 7.98 ± 0.12) x 10-25e-cm with 120 hours of data.