Abstract

In the last few years, our Trap Collaboration at CERN has succeeded in slowing antiprotons by more than 10 orders of magnitude in energy and in demonstrating long-term storage of 4-K antiprotons in a Penning trap. The first measurement with extremely cold antiprotons was a 1000-fold improvement in the measured antiproton mass,¹ and an additional improvement of by a factor of 40 is nearly in hand. Sharp resonances from single trapped antiprotons, less than 1 part in 10⁹ wide, are now being observed. Techniques developed, such has degrader slowing and electron cooling in a trap, make it possible to store enough antiprotons to also contemplate the production of low-energy antihydrogen. Demonstrated stacking techniques have produced more than 10⁵ antiprotons trapped at 4 K in less than an hour, with an increase of 1 or 2 orders of magnitude expected in apparatus optimized for accumulation.

© 1993 Optical Society of America