A proposal for laser cooling antihydrogen atoms

Donnan, Patrick H.; Fujiwara, M.; Robicheaux, F.

doi:10.1088/0953-4075/46/2/025302

Cited by 45 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It marks a turning point from proof-of-principle experiments to serious metrology and precision CPT comparisons using the optical spectrum of an anti-atom. The greatly improved trapping rate demonstrated here bodes well for many other future antihydrogen experiments, including microwave hyperfine transitions, spectroscopy and laser cooling using Lyman-α light 21 , and gravitational studies with neutral antimatter. The current result, along with recently determined limits on the antiproton-electron mass ratio 22 and antiproton charge-to-mass ratio 23 , demonstrate that tests of fundamental symmetries with antimatter are maturing rapidly.…”

mentioning

confidence: 61%

Observation of the 1S–2S transition in trapped antihydrogen

Ahmadi

Alves

Baker

et al. 2016

Nature

130

140

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The spectrum of the hydrogen atom has played a central part in fundamental physics over the past 200 years. Historical examples of its importance include the wavelength measurements of absorption lines in the solar spectrum by Fraunhofer, the identification of transition lines by Balmer, Lyman and others, the empirical description of allowed wavelengths by Rydberg, the quantum model of Bohr, the capability of quantum electrodynamics to precisely predict transition frequencies, and modern measurements of the 1S-2S transition by Hänsch 1 to a precision of a few parts in 10 15 . Recent technological advances have allowed us to focus on antihydrogen-the antimatter equivalent of hydrogen 2-4 . The Standard Model predicts that there should have been equal amounts of matter and antimatter in the primordial Universe after the Big Bang, but today's Universe is observed to consist almost entirely of ordinary matter. This motivates the study of antimatter, to see if there is a small asymmetry in the laws of physics that govern the two types of matter. In particular, the CPT (charge conjugation, parity reversal and time reversal) theorem, a cornerstone of the Standard Model, requires that hydrogen and antihydrogen have the same spectrum. Here we report the observation of the 1S-2S transition in magnetically trapped atoms of antihydrogen. We determine that the frequency of the transition, which is driven by two photons from a laser at 243 nanometres, is consistent with that expected for hydrogen in the same environment. This laser excitation of a quantum state of an atom of antimatter represents the most precise measurement performed on an anti-atom. Our result is consistent with CPT invariance at a relative precision of about 2 × 10 −10 .

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 61%

Observation of the 1S–2S transition in trapped antihydrogen

Ahmadi

Alves

Baker

et al. 2016

Nature

130

140

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is cold enough for atoms to be loaded into the optical lattice, but this method does not work for antihydrogen, because the number of atoms that can be trapped is only a few in each cycle of the experiment. A cooling scheme with the Lyman-α transition was recently proposed [25], and the predicted achievable temperature was 20 mK. It would be possible to trap a few antihydrogen atoms in the optical lattice, but a more sophisticated way to cool antihydrogen would be necessary.…”

Section: Implementation Of the Magic Wavelength Optical Latticementioning

confidence: 99%

Magic wavelength for the hydrogen1S−2Stransition

Kawasaki¹

2015

Phys. Rev. A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The magic wavelength for an optical lattice for hydrogen atoms that cancels the lowest order ac Stark shift of the 1S-2S transition is calculated to be 513 nm. The magnitudes of the ac Stark shift E = −119 Hz/(kW/cm 2 ) and the slope d E/dν = −2.77 Hz/(GHz kW/cm 2 ) at the magic wavelength suggest that a stable and narrowline-width trapping laser is necessary to achieve a deep enough optical lattice to confine hydrogen atoms in a way that gives a small enough light shift for the precision spectroscopy of the 1S-2S transition.

show abstract

“…The aim here is not spectroscopy as such, but laser cooling. A numerical study [38] using realistic assumptions about laser parameters at the challenging Lyman-α wavelength, and incorporating features from ALPHA's minimum-B trap, showed thatH may be cooled to around 20 mK. This would have obvious benefits for spectroscopy and studies aimed at probing the gravitational interaction of antimatter using what might be termed ballistic methods [10].…”

Section: Discussion and Prospectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Closing in on the properties of antihydrogen

Charlton

2017

Eur. Phys. J. D

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Recent achievements leading, amongst other things, to the observation of the two-photon 1S-2S transition in antihydrogen are reviewed. We summarise some of the technical advances that were necessary to facilitate this, and how these addressed the requirements posed by the underlying physical processes. Aspects of the latter have been elucidated by simulations aimed at describing as closely as possible the experimental situations, and we describe some recent insights from that work. We will close with a look to the future.

show abstract

A proposal for laser cooling antihydrogen atoms

Cited by 45 publications

References 22 publications

Observation of the 1S–2S transition in trapped antihydrogen

Observation of the 1S–2S transition in trapped antihydrogen

Magic wavelength for the hydrogen1S−2Stransition

Closing in on the properties of antihydrogen

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About