Abstract

Measurement of the electric dipole moment of a fundamental particle is one way in which to search for physics beyond the Standard Model. In this talk I will review current experiments which set limits on the electric dipole moment of the electron. All these experiments use heavy polar molecules. I will concentrate in particular on the experiment at Imperial College which uses YbF. I will also explain how new techniques of directly laser cooling of molecules have increased the sensitivity of this experiment, and how in these techniques will lead to an ever larger sensitivity increase in the near future.