ALPHA has two detector systems that can reconstruct the origin point of an antihydrogen annihilation. The two detectors have differing technologies. The Silicon Vertex Detector (SVD) is dedicated to the ALPHA 2 experiment, and the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is dedicated to the ALPHAg experiment.
Both detectors are custom made and unique to ALPHA. The SVD was manufactured and built in the UK by the University of Liverpool and the TPC was manufactured and built in Canada by TRIUMF.
What's more?
- For more about Antimatter in general, have a look at the CERN Antimatter page
- Good descriptions of 'How ALPHA works' in detail can be found in the publication section on our website
- Particularly appropriate for students and non-physicists are Cold Antihydrogen: a new frontier in fundamental physics, Antihydrogen for precision tests in physics and Antihydrogen in a bottle
- For experts, a general overview of many of the important aspects can be found in Search for Trapped Antihydrogen