We discuss laser cooling of antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic trap down to the millikelvin range using radiation at Lyman‐alpha. This is very important to suppress residual Zeeman shifts and broadenings in future high‐resolution laser‐spectroscopy of antihydrogen. Even colder antihydrogen temperatures in the sub‐millikelvin range are desirable for experiments on antimatter gravity. We discuss novel methods to obtain antihydrogen atoms at these ultracold temperatures.
We discuss laser cooling of antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic trap down to the millikelvin range using radiation at Lyman‐alpha. This is very important to suppress residual Zeeman shifts and broadenings in future high‐resolution laser‐spectroscopy of antihydrogen. Even colder antihydrogen temperatures in the sub‐millikelvin range are desirable for experiments on antimatter gravity. We discuss novel methods to obtain antihydrogen atoms at these ultracold temperatures.
We propose a novel technique which uses laser-cooled negative osmium ions for sympathetic cooling of antiprotons. Temperatures down to the sub-millikelvin range might be achievable. These antiprotons could be used to form antihydrogen at ultra-cold temperatures, thus allowing efficient magnetic trapping of antihydrogen for high-resolution laser spectroscopy. Antihydrogen at sub-millikelvin temperatures might also enable first direct measurements of the gravitational acceleration of antimatter. Currently, no other technique exists which allows the cooling of large numbers of antiprotons to temperatures below that of the surrounding trap.
Abstract The photon—the quantum excitation of the electromagnetic field—is massless but carries momentum. A photon can therefore exert a force on an object upon collision1. Slowing the translational motion of atoms and ions by application of such a force2,3, known as laser cooling, was first demonstrated 40 years ago4,5. It revolutionized atomic physics over the following decades6–8, and it is now a workhorse in many fields, including studies on quantum degenerate gases, quantum information, atomic clocks and tests of fundamental physics. However, this technique has not yet been applied to antimatter. Here we demonstrate laser cooling of antihydrogen9, the antimatter atom consisting of an antiproton and a positron. By exciting the 1S–2P transition in antihydrogen with pulsed, narrow-linewidth, Lyman-α laser radiation10,11, we Doppler-cool a sample of magnetically trapped antihydrogen. Although we apply laser cooling in only one dimension, the trap couples the longitudinal and transverse motions of the anti-atoms, leading to cooling in all three dimensions. We observe a reduction in the median transverse energy by more than an order of magnitude—with a substantial fraction of the anti-atoms attaining submicroelectronvolt transverse kinetic energies. We also report the observation of the laser-driven 1S–2S transition in samples of laser-cooled antihydrogen atoms. The observed spectral line is approximately four times narrower than that obtained without laser cooling. The demonstration of laser cooling and its immediate application has far-reaching implications for antimatter studies. A more localized, denser and colder sample of antihydrogen will drastically improve spectroscopic11–13 and gravitational14 studies of antihydrogen in ongoing experiments. Furthermore, the demonstrated ability to manipulate the motion of antimatter atoms by laser light will potentially provide ground-breaking opportunities for future experiments, such as anti-atomic fountains, anti-atom interferometry and the creation of antimatter molecules.
In 1906, Theodore Lyman discovered his eponymous series of transitions in the extreme-ultraviolet region of the atomic hydrogen spectrum1,2. The patterns in the hydrogen spectrum helped to establish the emerging theory of quantum mechanics, which we now know governs the world at the atomic scale. Since then, studies involving the Lyman-α line—the 1S–2P transition at a wavelength of 121.6 nanometres—have played an important part in physics and astronomy, as one of the most fundamental atomic transitions in the Universe. For example, this transition has long been used by astronomers studying the intergalactic medium and testing cosmological models via the so-called ‘Lyman-α forest’3 of absorption lines at different redshifts. Here we report the observation of the Lyman-α transition in the antihydrogen atom, the antimatter counterpart of hydrogen. Using narrow-line-width, nanosecond-pulsed laser radiation, the 1S–2P transition was excited in magnetically trapped antihydrogen. The transition frequency at a field of 1.033 tesla was determined to be 2,466,051.7 ± 0.12 gigahertz (1σ uncertainty) and agrees with the prediction for hydrogen to a precision of 5 × 10−8. Comparisons of the properties of antihydrogen with those of its well-studied matter equivalent allow precision tests of fundamental symmetries between matter and antimatter. Alongside the ground-state hyperfine4,5 and 1S–2S transitions6,7 recently observed in antihydrogen, the Lyman-α transition will permit laser cooling of antihydrogen8,9, thus providing a cold and dense sample of anti-atoms for precision spectroscopy and gravity measurements10. In addition to the observation of this fundamental transition, this work represents both a decisive technological step towards laser cooling of antihydrogen, and the extension of antimatter spectroscopy to quantum states possessing orbital angular momentum. The observation of the 1S–2P Lyman-α transition in the antihydrogen atom, the antimatter counterpart of hydrogen, is reported.
The performance of proposed antihydrogen spectroscopy or gravity experiments will crucially depend on the temperature of the initial antihydrogen sample. Measurements by ATRAP and ATHENA have shown that antihydrogen produced with the nested-trap technique is much hotter than the temperature of the surrounding trap. Therefore, novel schemes for antihydrogen recombination as well as for the pre-cooling of antiprotons are being considered. We are investigating a possible antiproton cooling technique based on the laser cooling of negative osmium ions. If demonstrated to be successful, it will allow the sympathetic cooling of antiprotons—or any negatively charged particles—to microkelvin temperatures. As a first milestone toward the laser cooling of negative ions, we have performed collinear laser spectroscopy on negative osmium and determined the transition frequency and the cross-section of the relevant bound–bound electric-dipole transition.
We discuss laser cooling methods of (anti)hydrogen and its importance for current and future experiments. The exploration of antimatter presents a great interest for CERN and GSI experiments aimed at check of quantum mechanics laws, fundamental symmetries of nature and gravity and investigations in atomic and nuclear physics. The spectral transition 1S→2P in Hˉ(H) atom is the most suitable for laser cooling due to a small lifetime of 2P state and insignificant ionization losses. However the pulsed and continuous laser sources at Lyman-α wavelength do not possess enough power for fast and efficient cooling. The small power of laser sources at $λ=121.6\ \nm$ is poor technical problem associated with a complexity of generation scheme of such radiation, which arises due to absence of nonlinear BBO crystals at this wavelength. The advances in this area will completely destine the future progress of the experiments aimed at study of antimatter.
Experiments with antihydrogen (H[over ¯]) for a study of matter-antimatter symmetry and antimatter gravity require ultracold H[over ¯] to reach ultimate precision. A promising path towards antiatoms much colder than a few kelvin involves the precooling of antiprotons by laser-cooled anions. Because of the weak binding of the valence electron in anions-dominated by polarization and correlation effects-only few candidate systems with suitable transitions exist. We report on a combination of experimental and theoretical studies to fully determine the relevant binding energies, transition rates, and branching ratios of the most promising candidate La^{-}. Using combined transverse and collinear laser spectroscopy, we determined the resonant frequency of the laser cooling transition to be ν=96.592 713(91) THz and its transition rate to be A=4.90(50)×10^{4} s^{-1}. Using a novel high-precision theoretical treatment of La^{-} we calculated yet unmeasured energy levels, transition rates, branching ratios, and lifetimes to complement experimental information on the laser cooling cycle of La^{-}. The new data establish the suitability of La^{-} for laser cooling and show that the cooling transition is significantly stronger than suggested by a previous theoretical study.