Cavity Cooling of Positrons for Anti-Hydrogen Production

ORAL

Abstract

Precise spectroscopic measurements of anti-hydrogen at the ALPHA experiment aim to probe the mystery of antimatter asymmetry in our universe. However, these measurements are hindered by small numbers of cold anti-atoms. I will describe a cooling technique for positron plasmas which can be used to increase the number of trappable anti-hydrogen atoms. The technique builds on previous work which allows control of spontaneous emission via the Purcell Effect. Our implementation incorporates a novel microwave resonator into an existing Penning trap to enhance spontaneous emission. Preliminary data suggests that temperatures and cooling rates for these plasmas can be improved by about a factor of 10. Eventually this work could result in an order of magnitude increase in anti-hydrogen production at ALPHA.

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Authors

  • Nathan Evetts

    • University of British Columbia

  • Alex Povilus

    • University of California Berkeley

  • Eric Hunter

    • University of California Berkeley

  • Isaac Martens

    • University of British Columbia

  • Jonathan Wurtele

    • University of California Berkeley

  • Walter Hardy

    • University of British Columbia

  • Joel Fajans

    • University of California Berkeley