Theses

Antihydrogen, the bound state of a positron and an antiproton, is the only pure anti-atomic system ever studied. It is produced exclusively in the laboratory, as it has never been observed in nature. This unique system is of great interest for searching for tentative differences between matter and antimatter. Anti-hydrogen has been routinely trapped since…

The performance of a caesium fountain frequency reference for use in precision measurements of trapped antihydrogen in the ALPHA experiment at CERN is evaluated. A description of the fountain is provided together with a characterisation of systematic effects. The impact of the magnetic environment in the Antimatter Factory, where the fountain is installed, on the…

This paper describes the ALPHA-2 apparatus, used at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator facility for the study of trapped antihydrogen atoms. Details of both the construction and performance are included. Prominence is given to both the new and the improved features, with respect to the original ALPHA assembly, of the apparatus including a stand-alone antiproton catching…

The antimatter equivalent of atomic hydrogen—antihydrogen—is an outstanding testbed for precision studies of matter–antimatter symmetry. Here we report on the simultaneous observation of both accessible hyperfine components of the 1S–2S transition in trapped antihydrogen. We determine the 2S hyperfine splitting in antihydrogen and—by comparing our results with those obtained in hydrogen—constrain the charge–parity–time-reversal symmetry-violating coefficients…

We develop a new algorithm to estimate the temperature of a nonneutral plasma in a Penning-Malmberg trap. The algorithm analyzes data obtained by slowly lowering a voltage that confines one end of the plasma and collecting escaping charges, and is a maximum likelihood estimator based on a physically-motivated model of the escape protocol presented in…

Magnetically trapped antihydrogen atoms can be cooled by expanding the volume of the trap in which they are confined. We report a proof-of-principle experiment in which antiatoms are deliberately released from expanded and static traps. Antiatoms escape at an average trap depth of 0 . 0 8 ± 0 . 0 1 K (statistical errors…

The ALPHA Collaboration, based at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator, has recently implemented a novel beamline for low energy (<100 eV) positron and antiproton transport between cylindrical Penning traps that have strong axial magnetic fields. Here, we describe how a combination of semi analytical and numerical calculations was used to optimize the layout and design of…

This paper examines different models for calculating the magnetic field of solenoids. Accuracy and computation time are compared for a range of different simplified models: a current loop and a thin shell solenoid, and solenoids with finite length and thickness. There is no definitive answer to “what model is the best”, as it depends on…

The positron, the antiparticle of the electron, predicted by Dirac in 1931 and discovered by Anderson in 1933, plays a key role in many scientific and everyday endeavours. Notably, the positron is a constituent of antihydrogen, the only long-lived neutral antimatter bound state that can currently be synthesized at low energy, presenting a prominent system…

The production of beams of antihydrogen atoms using the dipole force provided by a travelling optical lattice to accelerate a sample of the anti-atoms held in a magnetic gradient atom trap is investigated. By considering current and near-future antihydrogen trapping capabilities we find that useful fluxes of the anti-atoms can be achieved with directional properties…

The photon—the quantum excitation of the electromagnetic field—is massless but carries momentum. A photon can therefore exert a force on an object upon collision. Slowing the translational motion of atoms and ions by application of such a force, known as laser cooling, was first demonstrated 40 years ago. It revolutionized atomic physics over the following…

At the historic Shelter Island Conference on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics in 1947, Willis Lamb reported an unexpected feature in the fine structure of atomic hydrogen: a separation of the 2S1/2 and 2P1/2 states. The observation of this separation, now known as the Lamb shift, marked an important event in the evolution of modern…

In 1906, Theodore Lyman discovered his eponymous series of transitions in the extreme-ultraviolet region of the atomic hydrogen spectrum. The patterns in the hydrogen spectrum helped to establish the emerging theory of quantum mechanics, which we now know governs the world at the atomic scale. Since then, studies involving the Lyman-α line—the 1S–2P transition at…

In 1928, Dirac published an equation that combined quantum mechanics and special relativity. Negative-energy solutions to this equation, rather than being unphysical as initially thought, represented a class of hitherto unobserved and unimagined particles—antimatter. The existence of particles of antimatter was confirmed with the discovery of the positron (or anti-electron) by Anderson in 1932, but…

The nature of the trajectories of antihydrogen atoms confined in an octupole minimum-B trap is of great importance for upcoming spectroscopy, cooling, and gravity experiments. Of particular interest is the mixing time between the axial and transverse energies for the antiatoms. Here, using computer simulations, we establish that almost all trajectories are chaotic, and then…

The simultaneous control of the density and particle number of non-neutral plasmas confined in Penning-Malmberg traps is demonstrated. Control is achieved by setting the plasma’s density by applying a rotating electric field while simultaneously fixing its axial potential via evaporative cooling. This novel method is particularly useful for stabilizing positron plasmas, as the procedures used…

Antihydrogen, a positron bound to an antiproton, is the simplest anti-atom. Its structure and properties are expected to mirror those of the hydrogen atom. Prospects for precision comparisons of the two, as tests of fundamental symmetries, are driving a vibrant programme of research. In this regard, a limiting factor in most experiments is the availability…

Antihydrogen atoms are now routinely trapped in small numbers. One of the purposes of this effort is to make precision comparisons of the 1 S -2 S transition in hydrogen and antihydrogen as a precision test of the CPT theorem. We investigate, through calculations and simulations, various methods by which the 1 S -2 S…

We report the observation of the hyperfine spectrum of antihydrogen. By exposing trapped antihydrogen to microwave radiation and scanning the microwave frequency over two distinct transitions, we are able to extract the ground state hyperfine splitting. From a series of measurements involving a total of 194 detected atoms, we determine a splitting of 1,420.4 ±…

We report the observation of the 1S-2S transition in magnetically trapped atoms of antihydrogen in the ALPHA-2 apparatus at CERN. We determine that the frequency of the transition, driven by two photons from a frequency stabilised laser at 243 nm, is consistent with that expected for hydrogen in the same environment. This represents the first…

Antimatter continues to intrigue physicists because of its apparent absence in the observable Universe. Current theory requires that matter and antimatter appeared in equal quantities after the Big Bang, but the Standard Model of particle physics offers no quantitative explanation for the apparent disappearance of half the Universe. It has recently become possible to study…

Performing measurements of the properties of antihydrogen, the bound state of an antiproton and a positron, and comparing the results with those for ordinary hydrogen, has long been seen as a route to test some of the fundamental principles of physics. There has been much experimental progress in this direction in recent years, and antihydrogen…

The properties of antihydrogen are expected to be identical to those of hydrogen, and any differences would constitute a profound challenge to the fundamental theories of physics. The most commonly discussed antiatom-based tests of these theories are searches for antihydrogen-hydrogen spectral differences (tests of CPT (charge-parity-time) invariance) or gravitational differences (tests of the weak equivalence…

We demonstrate a novel detection method for the cyclotron resonance frequency of an electron plasma in a Penning–Malmberg trap. With this technique, the electron plasma is used as an in situ diagnostic tool for the measurement of the static magnetic field and the microwave electric field in the trap. The cyclotron motion of the electron…

The ALPHA collaboration, based at CERN, has recently succeeded in confining cold antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic minimum neutral atom trap and has performed the first study of a resonant transition of the anti-atoms. The ALPHA apparatus will be described herein, with emphasis on the structural aspects, diagnostic methods and techniques that have enabled antihydrogen…

The influence of gravity on anti-hydrogen dynamics in magnetic traps is studied. The advantages and disadvantages of various techniques for measuring the ratio of the gravitational mass to the inertial mass of anti-hydrogen are discussed. Theoretical considerations and numerical simulations indicate that stochasticity may be especially important for some experimental techniques in vertically oriented traps.…

Knowledge of the residual gas composition in the ALPHA experiment apparatus is important in our studies of antihydrogen and nonneutral plasmas. A technique based on autoresonant ion extraction from an electrostaticpotential well has been developed that enables the study of the vacuum in our trap. Computer simulations allow an interpretation of our measurements and provide…

Physicists have long wondered whether the gravitational interactions between matter and antimatter might be different from those between matter and itself. Although there are many indirect indications that no such differences exist and that the weak equivalence principle holds, there have been no direct, free-fall style, experimental tests of gravity on antimatter. Here we describe…

One of the goals of synthesizing and trapping antihydrogen is to study the validity of charge-parity–time symmetry through precision spectroscopy on the anti-atoms, but the trapping yield achieved in recent experiments must be significantly improved before this can be realized. Antihydrogen atoms are commonly produced by mixing antiprotons and positrons stored in a nested Penning-Malmberg…

The ALPHA experiment has succeeded in trapping antihydrogen, a major milestone on the road to spectroscopic comparisons of antihydrogen with hydrogen. An annihilation vertex detector, which determines the time and position of antiproton annihilations, has been central to this achievement. This detector, an array of double-sided silicon microstrip detector modules arranged in three concentric cylindrical…

The hydrogen atom is one of the most important and influential model systems in modern physics. Attempts to understand its spectrum are inextricably linked to the early history and development of quantum mechanics. The hydrogen atom’s stature lies in its simplicity and in the accuracy with which its spectrum can be measured 1 and compared…

Recently, antihydrogen atoms were trapped at CERN in a magnetic minimum (minimum-B) trap formed by superconducting octupole and mirror magnet coils. The trapped antiatoms were detected by rapidly turning off these magnets, thereby eliminating the magnetic minimum and releasing any antiatoms contained in the trap. Once released, these antiatoms quickly hit the trap wall, whereupon…

Atoms made of a particle and an antiparticle are unstable, usually surviving less than a microsecond. Antihydrogen, made entirely of antiparticles, is believed to be stable, and it is this longevity that holds the promise of precision studies of matter–antimatter symmetry. We have recently demonstrated trapping of antihydrogen atoms by releasing them after a confinement…

Charges in cold, multiple-species, non-neutral plasmas separate radially by mass, forming centrifugally separated states. Here, we report the first detailed measurements of such states in an electron-antiproton plasma, and the first observations of the separation dynamics in any centrifugally separated system. While the observed equilibrium states are expected and in agreement with theory, the equilibration…

We demonstrate controllable excitation of the center-of-mass longitudinal motion of a thermal antiproton plasma using a swept-frequency autoresonant drive. When the plasma is cold, dense, and highly collective in nature, we observe that the entire system behaves as a single-particle nonlinear oscillator, as predicted by a recent theory. In contrast, only a fraction of the…

We present the results of an experiment to search for trapped antihydrogen atoms with the ALPHA antihydrogen trap at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator. Sensitive diagnostics of the temperatures, sizes, and densities of the trapped antiproton and positron plasmas have been developed, which in turn permitted development of techniques to precisely and reproducibly control the initial…

Antimatter was first predicted in 1931, by Dirac. Work with high-energy antiparticles is now commonplace, and anti-electrons are used regularly in the medical technique of positron emission tomography scanning. Antihydrogen, the bound state of an antiproton and a positron, has been produced at low energies at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) since 2002.…

The year 2002 heralded a breakthrough in antimatter research when the first low energy antihydrogen atoms were produced. Antimatter has inspired both science and fiction writers for many years, but detailed studies have until now eluded science. Antimatter is notoriously difficult to study as it does not readily occur in nature, even though our current…

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…

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…

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…

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%…

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…

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…