Driven production of cold antihydrogen and the first measured distribution of antihydrogen states

G Gabrielse; N S Bowden; P Oxley; A Speck; C H Storry; J N Tan; M Wessels; D Grzonka; W Oelert; G Schepers; T Sefzick; J Walz; H Pittner; T W Hänsch; E A Hessels; ATRAP Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.233401

Driven production of cold antihydrogen and the first measured distribution of antihydrogen states

Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Dec 2;89(23):233401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.233401. Epub 2002 Nov 19.

Authors

G Gabrielse¹, N S Bowden, P Oxley, A Speck, C H Storry, J N Tan, M Wessels, D Grzonka, W Oelert, G Schepers, T Sefzick, J Walz, H Pittner, T W Hänsch, E A Hessels; ATRAP Collaboration

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. gabrielse@physics.harvard.edu

PMID: 12485006
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.233401

Abstract

Cold antihydrogen is produced when antiprotons are repeatedly driven into collisions with cold positrons within a nested Penning trap. Efficient antihydrogen production takes place during many cycles of positron cooling of antiprotons. A first measurement of a distribution of antihydrogen states is made using a preionizing electric field between separated production and detection regions. Surviving antihydrogen is stripped in an ionization well that captures and stores the freed antiproton for background-free detection.