3rd International Workshop on Antimatter and Gravity (WAG 2015)

Rydberg-Stark states of positronium

6 Aug 2015, 10:00

30m

Room G06 - Sir Ambrose Fleming LT (UCL)

Invited Talk Session D

Speaker

Adam Deller (University College London)

Description

Recent advances in positron trapping techniques, positron to positronium (Ps) converter materials, and commercially available pulsed laser sources has greatly simplified the generation of Rydberg states of Ps. Highly-excited states of this exotic atom are listed in several schemes being developed for synthesis of anti-hydrogen for (anti)gravity measurements. In contrast to its ground-state, which rapidly self-annihilates, prolonged measurements of Ps* are possible: an element interesting in its own right for being a purely leptonic, bound-state system. A experiment designed for laser-spectroscopy of Ps and optical preparation of Rydberg states is presented. Tailoring of the electric field in the excitation region is demonstrated as a means to select specific Stark states of the $n=11$ manifold. These states are significant for having large electric-dipole moments, which can be exploited to manipulate the atoms. Such techniques can in principle be employed to electrostatically focus a cold Ps beam, and eventually to measure gravitational deflection of the part-antimatter pair.

Presentation materials

WAG2015_Deller.compressed.pdf

WAG2015_Deller.pdf