Abstract
Radio-frequency (rf) Paul traps operated with multifrequency rf trapping potentials provide the ability to independently confine charged particle species with widely different charge-to-mass ratios. In particular, these traps may find use in the field of antihydrogen recombination, allowing antiproton and positron clouds to be trapped and confined in the same volume without the use of large superconducting magnets. We explore the stability regions of two-frequency Paul traps and perform numerical simulations of small samples of multispecies charged-particle mixtures of up to twelve particles that indicate the promise of these traps for antihydrogen recombination.
Highlights
The measurable properties of hydrogen (H ) and antihydrogen (H ) atoms are expected to be identical as postulated by the combined charge (C), parity (P), and time (T) reversal symmetry [1]
We have discussed the potential of two-frequency Paul traps for the simultaneous trapping of positrons and antiprotons for recombination to antihydrogen
Stable regions in the trap parameter space have been identified and confirmed using independent methods based on Floquet theory and direct numerical integration of the equations of motion
Summary
The measurable properties of hydrogen (H ) and antihydrogen (H ) atoms are expected to be identical as postulated by the combined charge (C), parity (P), and time (T) reversal symmetry [1]. For antihydrogen formation, we approach the problem of simultaneous three-dimensional particle confinement of antiprotons and positrons with the idea of a twofrequency Paul trap. This trap design is aimed to combine the stability parameters of both particles and would allow for charge overlap inside the trap. The stability of a Paul trap is characterized by dimensionless stability parameters a and q [17], which are related to the static and dynamic amplitudes, respectively, of the confining potential Both parameters scale linearly with the charge-to-mass ratio, Qm. A is stable for 0 < q < 0.9 in case of a ≈ 0, with optimal trapping achieved around q = 0.5. Our work was partially inspired by the preliminary discussion of two-frequency Paul traps in Ref. [27]
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