https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2013-40690-3
Regular Article
AEgIS experiment: Towards antihydrogen beam production for antimatter gravity measurements*
1 Stefan-Meyer-Institut für subatomare
Physik, Boltzmanngasse
3, 1090
Vienna, Austria
2 Politecnico di Milano, LNESS and Dept
of Physics, Via Anzani
42, 22100
Como, Italy
3 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica
Nucleare, Sez. di Milano, Via
Celoria 16, 20133
Milano, Italy
4 Albert Einstein Center for
Fundamental Physics, Laboratory for High Energy Physics, University of
Bern, 3012
Bern, Switzerland
5 Institute for Nuclear Research of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, 117312
Moscow, Russia
6 University of Brescia, Dept of Mech.
and Indust. Engineering, Via Branze
38, 25133
Brescia, Italy
7 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica
Nucleare, Sez. di Pavia, Via
Agostino Bassi 6, 27100
Pavia, Italy
8 University of Heidelberg, Kirchhoff
Institute for Physics, Im
Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120
Heidelberg,
Germany
9 Department of Physics, University of
Trento and INFN TIFPA, Via
Sommarive 14, 38123 Povo, Trento, Italy
10 European Organisation for Nuclear
Research, Physics Department, 1211
Genève 23,
Switzerland
11 Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, CNRS,
Université Paris Sud, ENS Cachan, Bâtiment 505, Campus d’Orsay, 91405
Orsay Cedex,
France
12 University of Zurich, Physics
Institute, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057
Zürich,
Switzerland
13 University of Milano, Dept of
Physics, Via Celoria
16, 20133
Milano, Italy
14 Politecnico di Milano, Dept of
Aerospace Sci. and Tech., Via La
Masa 34, 20156
Milano, Italy
15 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica
Nucleare, Sez. di Genova, Via
Dodecaneso 33, 16146
Genova, Italy
16 University of Bergen, Institute of
Physics and Technology, Alleegaten
55, 5007
Bergen, Norway
17 University College London, Dept of
Physics and Astronomy, Gower
Street, London
WC1E 6BT, UK
18 Max Planck Institute for Nuclear
Physics, Saupfercheckweg
1, 69117
Heidelberg,
Germany
19 University of Genoa, Dept of
Physics, Via Dodecaneso
33, 16146
Genova, Italy
20 Joint Institute for Nuclear
Research, 141980
Dubna, Russia
21 ETH Zurich, Laboratory for Physical
Chemistry, 8093
Zürich,
Switzerland
22 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica
Nucleare, Sez. di Padova, Via
Marzolo 8, 35131
Padova, Italy
23 Claude Bernard University Lyon 1,
Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon, 4 rue Enrico Fermi, 69622
Villeurbanne,
France
24 Czech Technical University in
Prague, FNSPE, Bøehová 7, 11519
Praha 1, Czech
Republic
25 University of Bologna, Dept of
Physics, Via Irnerio
46, 40126
Bologna, Italy
26 University of Pavia, Dept of
Nuclear and Theoretical Physics, Via Bassi 6, 27100
Pavia, Italy
27 University of Oslo, Dept of
Physics, Sem Sælands vei 24, 0371
Oslo, Norway
28 University of Napoli Federico II,
Department of Physics, Via
Cinthia, 80126
Napoli,
Italy
a e-mail: mariazzi@science.unitn.it
Received:
4
November
2013
Received in final form:
17
December
2013
Published online:
4
March
2014
AEgIS (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) is an experiment that aims to perform the first direct measurement of the gravitational acceleration g of antihydrogen in the Earth’s field. A cold antihydrogen beam will be produced by charge exchange reaction between cold antiprotons and positronium excited in Rydberg states. Rydberg positronium (with quantum number n between 20 and 30) will be produced by a two steps laser excitation. The antihydrogen beam, after being accelerated by Stark effect, will fly through the gratings of a moiré deflectometer. The deflection of the horizontal beam due to its free fall will be measured by a position sensitive detector. It is estimated that the detection of about 103 antihydrogen atoms is required to determine the gravitational acceleration with a precision of 1%. In this report an overview of the AEgIS experiment is presented and its current status is described. Details on the production of slow positronium and its excitation with lasers are discussed.
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag 2014