⚛️ New cooling technique increases antimatter production eightfold at CERN

⚛️ New cooling technique increases antimatter production eightfold at CERN

CERN can now produce over 15,000 antihydrogen atoms in under seven hours, compared to ten weeks previously for similar quantities. With larger quantities of antihydrogen available, researchers can now investigate atomic antimatter in greater detail and at a faster pace than before.

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  • The ALPHA experiment at CERN can now produce over 15,000 antihydrogen atoms in under seven hours, compared to ten weeks previously for similar quantities.
  • The technique uses laser-cooled beryllium to cool positrons to minus 266 degrees Celsius.
  • With larger quantities of antihydrogen available, researchers can now investigate atomic antimatter in greater detail and at a faster pace than before.

How the new technique works

Researchers at the ALPHA experiment at CERN's Antimatter Factory have developed a new cooling method that increases the production rate of antihydrogen atoms eightfold. The results are published in the journal Nature Communications.

To create antihydrogen, researchers must produce and trap clouds of antiprotons and positrons separately. The particles are then cooled down and merged so that antihydrogen atoms can form. The new technique focuses on how the positrons are prepared.

The positrons are collected from a radioactive form of sodium and held in place in a so-called Penning trap, where electromagnetic fields keep the antiparticles contained. But the positrons still move too much to efficiently merge with antiprotons.

Sympathetic cooling with beryllium

The ALPHA team solved the problem by adding a cloud of laser-cooled beryllium ions to the trap. The positrons then lose energy through a process called sympathetic cooling. This lowers the temperature of the positron cloud to around minus 266 degrees Celsius.

The lower temperature makes it significantly more likely that antihydrogen atoms will form when the positrons are mixed with the antiprotons.

From ten weeks to one night

Using the new method, over 15,000 antihydrogen atoms could be accumulated in under seven hours. By comparison, a previous experiment took ten weeks to collect the 16,000 antihydrogen atoms required to measure the spectral structure of antihydrogen.

According to Jeffrey Hangst, spokesperson for the ALPHA experiment, these numbers would have been considered science fiction just ten years ago. With larger quantities of antihydrogen available, researchers can now investigate atomic antimatter in greater detail and at a faster pace than before.

Niels Madsen, deputy spokesperson for ALPHA and leader of the positron cooling project, describes how the technique changes the work. Researchers can now accumulate antihydrogen overnight and measure a spectral line the following day. This makes it easier to investigate systematic uncertainties in the measurements.

Over two million antihydrogen atoms

During the 2023–24 experimental runs, the ALPHA experiment produced over two million antihydrogen atoms using the new cooling method. Researchers are now using the large quantities of antihydrogen to study how gravity affects antimatter, as part of the ALPHA-g experiment. The technique enables even more precise measurements and makes it possible to investigate the properties of atomic antimatter in depth.

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