How it works

By measuring precisely the difference between hydrogen and antihydrogen (H) the ASACUSA-CUSP experiment plans to study the fundamental symmetries between matter and antimatter. Therefore the group focuses on spectroscopy of cold antihydrogen atoms. These researches are going on at the Antiproton Decellerator facility in CERN .

Our experimental setup is shown below, which consists of a positron accumulator, a MUSASHI ultraslow antiproton beam source, a CUSP trap, and a hyperfine spectrometer line.

For preparation of slow positrons and antiprotons, a Penning-Malmberg type multiple ring electrodes (MRE) traps are utilized. They comprise a homogenous strong magnetic field and an electrostatic potential. In order to synthesize H atoms and to produce H beams, a cusp trap consisting anti-Helmholtz coil and an MRE has been developed. Downstream of the cusp trap a hyperfine spectrometer line is placed. It consists of a microwave cavity to induce H spin flips, a sextupole magnet for spin-state analysis and an H detector.

Experimental Setup of the Antihydrogen beam production