Progress toward a continuous polar molecular beam source for the ACME eEDM experiment*

A slow, high-flux beam of thorium monoxide (ThO) is an essential component of the ACME collaboration experiment to measure the electric dipole moment of the electron. The experiment currently employs a buffer gas cooled, pulsed beam source of $\sim 10^{13}$ molecules sr$^{-1}$ s$^{-1}$ at 170 m/s in a single rovibrational level. We present progress toward the realization of a continuous source of ThO via a high-temperature reaction between Th and ThO$_2$. This source offers many potential advantages over the current pulsed ablation source, including higher fractional, peak, and time-averaged yields.