Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme
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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 45: Kalte Atome
A 45.2: Talk
Friday, March 16, 2012, 11:00–11:15, V7.02
Production of Antihydrogen via Double Charge Exchange — •Andreas Müllers1, Daniel Fitzakerley2, Robert McConnell3, Jochen Walz1, Eric Hessels2, and Gerald Gabrielse3 — 1Johannes Gutenberg-Universität und Helmholtz Institut Mainz — 2York University, Toronto, Kanada — 3Harvard University, Cambridge (MA), USA
For the ATRAP collaboration
Spectroscopy of the 1S−2S transition of trapped antihydrogen and comparison with the equivalent line in hydrogen will provide an accurate test of CPT symmetry. However, the established method of producing antihydrogen creates them with an average temperature much higher than the typical trap-depth of a neutral atom trap. So far, only very few antihydrogen-atoms could be confined at a time.
Therefore the ATRAP collaboration developed a different method that has the potential of producing much larger numbers of cold antihydrogen atoms, the double charge exchange: Positrons and antiprotons are stored and cooled in the same Penning trap. Laser-excited cesium atoms collide with the positrons, forming Rydberg-Positronium, a bound state of an electron and a positron. The Positronium atoms are no longer confined by the electric potentials of the Penning trap and some will drift into the neighbouring cloud of antiprotons where, in a second charge exchange collision, they form antihydrogen.
ATRAP demonstrated this method in 2004. With a newly developed Penning trap and a custom laser system we now achieved a large increase in particle numbers and efficiency.