2010 Summary in Physics Today

ATRAP Antihydrogen Collaboration

AIP Physics Story of the Year

Gabrielse Group

Hessels and Storry Groups

Walz Group

Speck Group

   
Annotated Publication List
   

 

Long Term Goal: Precise laser or microwave spectroscopy of trapped antihydrogen
               to make the most stringent lepton and baryon CPT tests

 
 

``When antihydrogen is formed in an ion trap, the neutral atoms will no longer be confined and will thus quickly strike the trap electrodes. Resulting annihilations of the positron and antiproton could be monitored. ..."

 

"... it is clear that the very low [antihydrogen production rate] will make ... experiments with antihydrogen to be very ... difficult. For me, the most attractive way ... would be to capture the antihydrogen in a neutral particle trap ... The objective would be to then study the properties of a small number of [antihydrogen] atoms confined in the neutral trap for a long time."

 

 

Gerald Gabrielse, 1986 Erice Lecture (shortly after first trapping of antiprotons), in Fundamental Symmetries, ed. by P. Bloch, et al., p. 59 (Plenum, NY, 1987)

 

ATRAP Simultaneously Loads Positrons and Antiprotons During a 100 Second Cycle

 
tick marks: 1 meter
 
   
Positron accumulator
Cold positrons and
accumulates positrons
cold antiprotons are accumulated
from a 22Na source
in Penning traps located
within a 1-3 Tesla solenoid
  (below left)
   
   
  Antiprotons come from
  the CERN Antiproton
time axis
Decelerator (AD)
storage ring
 
0 seconds
antiprotons load
30 seconds
positrons load
 
70 seconds
more positrons load
100 seconds
cycle starts over
   

scintillation
detectors

 
 

Anihydrogen is produced
within a Ioffe trap
by one of two methods
that ATRAP developed
(method 1, method 2,
traps for antihydrogen)

 
Solenoid and vacuum container for the traps
 

Inside view of Penning traps and Ioffe trap
rotated 90 degrees clockwise

 

ATRAP is a collaboration of the following groups:

Note: everyone at ATRAP helps out as needed on whatever part of the project needs help, so these divisions are often blurred