Antiparticle beamline for experiments on matter antimatter symmetry
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
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People |
ORCID iD |
| William Bertsche (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Anderson EK
(2023)
Observation of the effect of gravity on the motion of antimatter.
in Nature
Baker C
(2023)
Design and performance of a novel low energy multispecies beamline for an antihydrogen experiment
in Physical Review Accelerators and Beams
Bertsche W
(2022)
A Low Energy H - Beamline for the ALPHA Antihydrogen Experiment
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Johnson M
(2024)
Development and commissioning of a hydrogen ion source for the CERN ALPHA experiment
in Journal of Instrumentation
Sameed M
(2020)
Ion generation and loading of a Penning trap using pulsed laser ablation
in New Journal of Physics
| Description | The first generation of a general antiparticle beamline has been created for undertaking fundamental research into the nature of antimatter. In the commissioning period, the beamline was used to enable a breakthrough in precision antimatter physics, namely laser-cooling of antihydrogen atoms. Further, this current generation of device has been used in the commissioning process of the ALPHA-g apparatus by successfully delivering antiprotons and positrons for use in this new device. It has also been routinely used to continue the physics program in the other ALPHA experiments, including the Catching Trap and ALPHA-2. Experimental studies have validated zero-field extraction calculations, and design studies have been carried out for a detailed integration of the ALPHA beamline with zero-field experiments, including ion sources. |
| Exploitation Route | Some of the beamline modeling techniques may be of interest to industrial uses of low-energy, magnetized beams. |
| Sectors | Electronics,Other |
| URL | http://alpha.web.cern.ch/ |
| Description | Influenced policy on students at CERN |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | Our students benefit enormously from being permanently at CERN. They learn to work in an international environment at the largest physics lab in the world. Additionally they have the opportunity to contribute significantly and be a significant part of world-leading research. |
| Description | Winterschool on Physics with Trapped Charged Particles 2012 |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Every 3 years I organise a winterschool for PhD Students on the topic of trapped charged particles. The school hosts about 60 students, mostly from Europe, but with a scattering of people from north and south America as well as Asia. It is highly appreciated by everyone in the field and helps young researchers form a wide network in the field as well as of course learning about the field from internationally renowned researchers who join as speakers and tutors. We have done schools in January 2012,2015, 2018 and 2021. I've linked the most recent one below. The next one is planned for January 2024. |
| URL | https://indico.cern.ch/event/880180/overview |
| Description | Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow |
| Amount | £50,695 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | SRF\R1\201066 |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2021 |
| End | 01/2022 |
| Description | ALPHA |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | ALPHA Experiment |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have provided 20 years of leadership to antihydrogen research. We have provided expertise in positrons and positron accumulation, trap physics, atomic physics, laser physics, laser-cooling, plasma physics, cryogenics and vacuum technologies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Partners have provided funding and manpower and expertise in plasma physics, detector physics, analysis, laser physics, particles physics, atomic physics and physics simulation. |
| Impact | Essentially all my outputs in the last 15 years are due to work with ALPHA. ALPHA is multi-disciplinary by nature, as we have to bring together very diverse fields of physics to do research on antihydrogen. The fields covered are accelerator physics, atomic physics, laser physics, detector physics, particle physics, plasma physics, fundamental physics as well as vacuum technology, detector technology, cryogenics and super-conducting magnet technology to mention the most prominent ones. |
| Description | Antimatter at CERN |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Webinar on Antihydrogen in order to engage A-level student locked down due to Covid-19. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IDzU89CB0w |
| Description | CERN Open Days 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Our experiment played a key role in antimatter outreach for the CERN open days in September 2019 that has more than 70'000 visitors. We showed people around at the experiments and discussed the physics applied, the motivations and the outlook. We had many interesting discussions with the general public ranging from age 12 to 80. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://opendays.cern/ |
| Description | Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We presented the stand "Antimatter Matters" at the Royal Society's Summer Science exhibition in London in 2016. This certainly was an eye-opener for all the very appreciative visitors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2016/summer-science-exhibition/ |
| Description | School visits to Antimatter Factory with tours and presentaitons |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We engage with school classes coming to CERN to visit the Antimatter Factory though presentations and tours of the facilities. This is a good opportunity for them to add some spice to their education and they often ask pertinent questions and express much appreciation for in particular the antimatter part of the programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2022,2023 |
| URL | http://visit.cern/tours |
| Description | Showcasing Physical Sciences Impact |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Members of our research group presented information about antimatter outreach programs, as well as carrying out a demonstrative version of the kind of outreach activities we use in various settings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://epsrc.ukri.org/funding/calls/showcasing-physical-sciences-impact-event-2019/ |
| Description | Talk and virtual tour of Antimatter Facility |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Held online (covid-obliged) web-cast on antimatter that included a virtual tour of the ALPHA experiment at CERN> |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IDzU89CB0w |