Tag: Refereed Publication
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Evaporative Cooling of Antiprotons to Cryogenic Temperatures
We report the application of evaporative cooling to clouds of trapped antiprotons, resulting in plasmas with measured temperature as low as 9 K. We have modeled the evaporation process for charged particles using appropriate rate equations. Good agreement between experiment and theory is observed, permitting prediction of cooling efficiency in future experiments. The technique opens
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Antihydrogen formation dynamics in a multipolar neutral anti-atom trap
Antihydrogen production in a neutral atom trap formed by an octupole-based magnetic field minimum is demonstrated using field-ionization of weakly bound anti-atoms. Using our unique annihilation imaging detector, we correlate antihydrogen detection by imaging and by field-ionization for the first time. We further establish how field-ionization causes radial redistribution of the antiprotons during antihydrogen formation
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Antiproton, positron, and electron imaging with a microchannel plate/phosphor detector
A microchannel plate (MCP)/phosphor screen assembly has been used to destructively measure the radial profile of cold, confined antiprotons, electrons, and positrons in the ALPHA experiment, with the goal of using these trapped particles for antihydrogen creation and confinement. The response of the MCP to low energy (10-200 eV, <1 eV spread) antiproton extractions is
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Magnetic multipole induced zero-rotation frequency bounce-resonant loss in a Penning-Malmberg trap used for antihydrogen trapping
In many antihydrogen trapping schemes, antiprotons held in a short-well Penning–Malmberg trap are released into a longer well. This process necessarily causes the bounce-averaged rotation frequency \omegar of the antiprotons around the trap axis to pass through zero. In the presence of a transverse magnetic multipole, experiments and simulations show that many antiprotons (over 30%
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Compression of Antiproton Clouds for Antihydrogen Trapping
Control of the radial profile of trapped antiproton clouds is critical to trapping antihydrogen. We report the first detailed measurements of the radial manipulation of antiproton clouds, including areal density compressions by factors as large as ten, by manipulating spatially overlapped electron plasmas. We show detailed measurements of the near-axis antiproton radial profile and its
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A Novel Antiproton Radial Diagnostic Based on Octupole Indused Ballistic Loss
We report results from a novel diagnostic that probes the outer radial profile of trapped antiproton clouds. The diagnostic allows us to determine the profile by monitoring the time history of antiproton losses that occur as an octupole field in the antiproton confinement region is increased. We show several examples of how this diagnostic helps
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Critical Loss Radius in a Penning Trap Subject to Multipole Fields
When particles in a Penning trap are subject to a magnetic multipole field, those beyond a critical radius will be lost. The critical radius depends on the history by which the field is applied, and can be much smaller if the particles are injected into a preexisting multipole than if the particles are subject to
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Antihydrogen For Precision Tests In Physics
The creation of atoms of antihydrogen under controlled conditions has opened up a new era in physics with antimatter. We describe the experimental realisation of low energy antihydrogen, via the mixing of carefully prepared clouds of positrons and antiprotons, and some of the progress that has been made in the last few years in characterising
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Production of Antihydrogen at Reduced Magnetic Field for Anti-atom Trapping
We have demonstrated production of antihydrogen in a 1 T solenoidal magnetic field. This field strength is significantly smaller than that used in the first generation experiments ATHENA (3 T) and ATRAP (5 T). The motivation for using a smaller magnetic field is to facilitate trapping of antihydrogen atoms in a neutral atom trap surrounding
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Antimatter Plasmas in a Multipole Trap for Antihydrogen
We have demonstrated storage of plasmas of the charged constituents of the antihydrogen atom, antiprotons and positrons, in a Penning trap surrounded by a minimum-B magnetic trap designed for holding neutral antiatoms. The neutral trap comprises a superconducting octupole and two superconducting, solenoidal mirror coils. We have measured the storage lifetimes of antiproton and positron