aqora

Story one: At CERN, atoms of antihydrogen that stick around: Physicists trap antiparticles almost long enough to study

Alexandra Wltze

Science NewsDec 9, 20100 citations

Antimatter trap tightens its grip

Physicists working on the ALPHA experiment at CERN, who in 2010 became the first to capture and store atoms of antimatter for long enough to examine them in detail, have made another significant advance.

Physics WorldJun 1, 20110 citations

Quantum error correction wins award

Margaret Harris

The Physics World 2024 Breakthrough of the Year goes to two groups that have made significant advances in quantum error correction methods, as Margaret Harris reports.

Physics WorldJan 1, 20250 citations

Careers and people

Peter Zoller of the University of Innsbruck has been awarded the 2006 Dirac Medal of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) – one of the world's most prestigious physics prizes. Zoller, scientific director of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, is honoured for his work in atomic physics, including proposing the use of trapped ions for quantum computing. The Dirac Medal has been awarded each year since 1985 on 8August, Paul Dirac's birth date, by the ICTP, which is based in Trieste, Italy.Peter Zoller of the University of Innsbruck has been awarded the 2006 Dirac Medal of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) – one of the world's most prestigious physics prizes. Zoller, scientific director of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, is honoured for his work in atomic physics, including proposing the use of trapped ions for quantum computing. The Dirac Medal has been awarded each year since 1985 on 8August, Paul Dirac's birth date, by the ICTP, which is based in Trieste, Italy.

Physics WorldSep 1, 20060 citations

Physics with antihydrogen

William Alan Bertsche, Eoin Butler, M. Charlton +1 more

Performing measurements of the properties of antihydrogen, the bound state of an antiproton and a positron, and comparing the results with those for ordinary hydrogen, has long been seen as a route to test some of the fundamental principles of physics. There has been much experimental progress in this direction in recent years, and antihydrogen is now routinely created and trapped and a range of exciting measurements probing the foundations of modern physics are planned or underway. In this contribution we review the techniques developed to facilitate the capture and manipulation of positrons and antiprotons, along with procedures to bring them together to create antihydrogen. Once formed, the antihydrogen has been detected by its destruction via annihilation or field ionization, and aspects of the methodologies involved are summarized. Magnetic minimum neutral atom traps have been employed to allow some of the antihydrogen created to be held for considerable periods. We describe such devices, and their implementation, along with the cusp magnetic trap used to produce the first evidence for a low-energy beam of antihydrogen. The experiments performed to date on antihydrogen are discussed, including the first observation of a resonant quantum transition and the analyses that have yielded a limit on the electrical neutrality of the anti-atom and placed crude bounds on its gravitational behaviour. Our review concludes with an outlook, including the new ELENA extension to the antiproton decelerator facility at CERN, together with summaries of how we envisage the major threads of antihydrogen physics will progress in the coming years.Performing measurements of the properties of antihydrogen, the bound state of an antiproton and a positron, and comparing the results with those for ordinary hydrogen, has long been seen as a route to test some of the fundamental principles of physics. There has been much experimental progress in this direction in recent years, and antihydrogen is now routinely created and trapped and a range of exciting measurements probing the foundations of modern physics are planned or underway. In this contribution we review the techniques developed to facilitate the capture and manipulation of positrons and antiprotons, along with procedures to bring them together to create antihydrogen. Once formed, the antihydrogen has been detected by its destruction via annihilation or field ionization, and aspects of the methodologies involved are summarized. Magnetic minimum neutral atom traps have been employed to allow some of the antihydrogen created to be held for considerable periods. We describe such devices, and their implementation, along with the cusp magnetic trap used to produce the first evidence for a low-energy beam of antihydrogen. The experiments performed to date on antihydrogen are discussed, including the first observation of a resonant quantum transition and the analyses that have yielded a limit on the electrical neutrality of the anti-atom and placed crude bounds on its gravitational behaviour. Our review concludes with an outlook, including the new ELENA extension to the antiproton decelerator facility at CERN, together with summaries of how we envisage the major threads of antihydrogen physics will progress in the coming years.

Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical PhysicsOct 6, 201544 citations

Double teleportation bags award

Tushna Commissariat, Hamish Johnston

The Physics World 2015 Breakthrough of the Year is the simultaneous quantum teleportation of two inherent properties of a photon, as Tushna Commissariat and Hamish Johnston report.

Physics WorldJan 1, 20160 citations

Breakthrough of the year

Abstract

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Breakthrough of the year

Abstract

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