A trap to make Antihydrogen

30 October 2002

The ATRAP experiment, at the European laboratory for particle physics, CERN, has taken the first glimpse inside an antiatom. The experiment, at CERN`s Antiproton Decelerator, has in this way provided the first information about the physics of antihydrogen. The key to making antihydrogen lies in first making and slowing down its constituents - antielectrons (positrons) and antiprotons - then accumulating them in  separate "traps", and finally bringing them together. The ATRAP team has pioneered each of the techniques involved, and in the current experiment uses the complicated trap structure shown  here. The positrons enter from above and are trapped in the upper part of the wider structure. The antiprotons enter from below where they are trapped near the lower end. The interaction region where the antihydrogen forms is below the wider part.

For further information see http://info.web.cern.ch/info/Press/PressReleases/Releases2002/PR13.02EATRAP.html

Credit: Gerald Gabrielse /ATRAP