Rostock 2019 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 35: Precision Spectroscopy of atoms and ions

A 35.20: Poster

Thursday, March 14, 2019, 16:15–18:15, S Fobau Physik

A detector for atomic hydrogen — •Hendrik-Lukas Schumacher, Ahmed Ouf, Jan Hack, Stefan Schmidt, and Randolf Pohl — Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Institut für Physik, QUANTUM & Exzellenzcluster PRISMA⁺, Mainz, Germany

Laser spectroscopy of atomic hydrogen and deuterium has yielded the most precise values for the Rydberg constant and, for a long time, of the proton and deuteron charge radii. The biggest obstacle for improved spectroscopy is however the atom’s motion and the resulting large systematic uncertainties due to Doppler and time-of-flight broadening. Trapping of atomic hydrogen would solve many of these problems.

To this end, our group plans to trap atomic hydrogen using a cloud of Li atoms in a MOT as a cold buffer gas. This would for the first time also enable high-precision spectroscopy of atomic tritium, eventually leading to a 400fold improved value for the triton charge radius.

Here we report on a simple detector for atomic hydrogen and its isotopes which is based on the heat deposited in a thin (10s of micrometers) metal wire where the 4.5 eV released in the recombination of two H atoms leads to an increase in resistivity. This detector enables measurements of the spatial profile and the flux of atoms from our cryogenic hydrogen beam.