The first beam of the 2011 season was delivered to ALPHA from the AD (Antiproton Decelerator) on the night of May 9th.

The image here shows some of the first antiprotons captured in the trap. It's produced by dumping the particles onto an MCP/phosphor – the bright circular shape is the electron plasma used to cool the antiprotons from a few keV (kiloelectron volts = 1000 electron volts) to a few eV. The more diffuse cloud off to an angle on the left is the antiproton cloud. There are about 30,000 antiprotons here, which is what we get from one shot (cycle) of the AD.

Here's to another great run!