Sebastiano Mariazzi

University of Trento and TIFPA

Positronium production and laser excitation for antimatter experiments

May 13, 2020; 9:30 a.m.

ABSTRACT

Positronium (Ps), the bound state of an electron and its antiparticle (the positron), is the lightest leptonic matter-antimatter system. Due to its characteristics, Ps is emerging as one of the most important ingredients for fundamental studies on antimatter and matter/antimatter asymmetry. On the one hand, Ps is being used by experiments in CERN's Antiproton Decelerator as an intermediate tool to produce antihydrogen via a charge-exchange reaction with antiprotons. The aim of these experiments is the probing of the matter-antimatter gravitational interaction using antihydrogen. On the other hand, some experimental schemes to directly measure gravity with long-lived Ps beams have been recently proposed.
In the present talk, we will describe the recent achievements in antihydrogen formation in the AEgIS (Antimatter Experiment: gravity Interferometry Spectroscopy) experiment at CERN. Particular attention will be dedicated to the Ps production, laser excitation and imaging. Moreover, recent results in the production of a long-lived Ps beam will be presented. Perspectives for the use of such a metastable Ps beam for first experiments of inertial sensing on this matter-antimatter system and quantum information transfer in Ps annihilation in the TIFPA antimatter laboratory will be shown.