Laser cooling of antihydrogen: the race towards hydrogen-like precision

by April Louise Cridland (Swansea University)

Monday 21 Nov 2022, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Zurich

Hybrid

The ALPHA Collaboration at CERN is engaged in precision measurements of the fundamental properties of antihydrogen, with a view to understanding the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe.  ALPHA uses the techniques of modern atomic physics to probe the spectroscopic fingerprint of antihydrogen, the only antimatter atom produced in a laboratory to date, and then compare it to its matter counterpart, hydrogen.  In 2018, ALPHA measured the 1S-2S transition in antihydrogen to 1 part in 10^-12, with a process that used 16,000 atoms and took 10 weeks.  In 2021, ALPHA reported the first laser cooling of antimatter, a paradigm shift that will improve the precision of all future spectroscopic measurements.  Laser cooling, combined with enhanced control and reproducibility of our antiproton and position plasmas, mean that the 1S-2S transition measurement that previously took 10 weeks, now takes less than 24 hours.

In addition, ALPHA has commissioned a new experiment (ALPHA-g) to measure the gravitational acceleration of antihydrogen.  Its first data taking run will conclude at the end of 2022 with the determination of whether antihydrogen falls down or up.

Laser cooling of antihydrogen the race towards hydrogen-like precision.pdf

Laser cooling of antihydrogen the race towards hydrogen-like precision.pptx