Physics with Trapped Antihydrogen
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
People |
ORCID iD |
| William Bertsche (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Ahmadi M
(2017)
Antihydrogen accumulation for fundamental symmetry tests.
in Nature communications
Ahmadi M
(2016)
An improved limit on the charge of antihydrogen from stochastic acceleration.
in Nature
Ahmadi M
(2017)
Observation of the 1S-2S transition in trapped antihydrogen.
in Nature
Ahmadi M
(2018)
Characterization of the 1S-2S transition in antihydrogen.
in Nature
Ahmadi M
(2018)
Characterization of the 1S-2S transition in antihydrogen.
in Nature
ALPHA Collaboration
(2020)
Investigation of the fine structure of antihydrogen.
in Nature
Amole C
(2014)
An experimental limit on the charge of antihydrogen.
in Nature communications
Amole C
(2014)
In situ electromagnetic field diagnostics with an electron plasma in a Penning-Malmberg trap
in New Journal of Physics
Amole C
(2014)
The ALPHA antihydrogen trapping apparatus
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Bertsche W
(2015)
Physics with antihydrogen
in Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
| Description | We successfully constructed and commissioned our new antihydrogen trapping and spectroscopy apparatus ALPHA-2, a new apparatus designed to be central to performing the first optical measurements on trapped antihydrogen atoms. We made a number of technical advancements required for spectroscopic investigation of antimatter, including developing a novel cryogenic optical cavity necessary for antihydrogen spectroscopy, an expanded magnetic trap system for holding and manipulating antihydrogen atoms, and a new cryostat control system required for maintaining excellent vacuum conditions and magnet performance. With the new ALPHA-2 apparatus, we performed a measurement to improve the best measurement of antihydrogen charge neutrality, improving upon the previous result by over and order of magnitude, as well as setting a new bound on the positron-electron charge anomaly. The research has culminated in the first-ever observation of the 1S - 2S optical transition in antihydrogen (or indeed any pure antimatter matter system). These results are world-leading and important milestones on the road to precise comparisons of atomic properties of antimatter with those of matter. In addition to the observation of the 1S-2S transition, first measurement of the lineshape for the ground-state hyperfine splitting in antihydrogen was performed. These were both achieved by the development of a novel method for controlling non-neutral trapped plasma and a technique used to stack antihydrogen atoms in the ALPHA-2 trap. These have accelerated and revolutionized our ability to perform measurements with antihydrogen. Furthermore, work in this grant has directly contributed to the current (as of 2018) efforts to perform direct measurements of antimatter gravity with ALPHA-g, the next generation of ALPHA antimatter traps. Looking ahead, this work enabled a full measurement of the antihydrogen lineshape and the first observation of the antihydron lyman-alpha transition - paving the way towards laser cooling of antihydrogen and higher precision measurements. |
| Exploitation Route | Identification and limits on anithydrogen charge neutrality should influence reported limits and experimental controls required for current research involving precision measurements on antihydrogen and antimatter in general. Measurements on the 1S - 2S transition clearly identify a specific optical transition in trapped antihydrogen atoms to compare against those of hydrogen. Details of this measurement have already provided useful insight into how best to proceed with making precision measurements of the 1S - 2S lineshape in antihydrogen atoms. The measurement of the hyperfine transition has placed the first constraints of physics beyond the standard model, and is presently the most complete study of an atomic physics feature of a fully-antimatter system. Additionally, the techniques for stacking antihydrogen atoms resulting from this work will be broadly applicable going forward with ALPHA as well as all other experiments in the antihydrogen physics community who are aiming to trap these particles. |
| Sectors | Other |
| URL | http://alpha.web.cern.ch/ |
| Description | Findings from this research have primarily had academic impact, however over the course of the grant we furthered impact on people through training of staff and students working on this experiment and in direct engagement through public outreach events. During the course of this project, I have contributed to a publications of significant academic importance which will inform the long-term work in this project and in general the field of antimatter studies. Additionally, the general topic of this finding (antimatter) was a central theme in the recent outreach program Antimatter Matters which has been visiting by thousands of visitors from the General Public from school children through retired researchers. The experiment has recently (Dec 2016) achieved a milestone measurement with the first observation of the 1S-2S transition in antihydrogen. This is a touchstone of the field of low energy antihydrogen research. It is too early to say whether these results have lead to any other specific impact. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Other |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | CERN teachers programme for welsh teachers |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The welsh teachers programme at CERN, spear headed by Swansea in collaboration with Lynn Evans (former head of the LHC programme) highlighted the need to enthuse physics teachers in Wales. Funding for this programme and others has now been granted by the Welsh government under the NNEST umbrella. |
| URL | http://gov.wales/newsroom/educationandskills/2017/welsh-teachers-return-from-cern-to-teach-what-matt... |
| 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 | Published Book " Trapped Charged Particles - A Graduate Textbook with Problems and Solutions" |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The book is used as reference material at the winter schools on "Physics with Trapped Charged Particles", the next of which will be hosted in january 2018 (the previous one was in 2015). These schools reach primarily European level post-graduates (Ph.D. students and young researchers), with a few intercontinental participants (US / Asia / Brazil). We have received good feedback on this. No further quantitative feedback available at this time. |
| Description | Published Book "Trapped Charged Particles A Graduate Textbook with Problems and Solutions" |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | We have used the text book at our winterschools on Physics with Trapped Charged Particles in 2015 and 2018 and will use it again in 2021. The students have expressed much appreciation for the quality of the book - and I'm aware of at least one lecturer who is basing their lecture-course on the book. |
| 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 | EPSRC Standard Grant (Responsive Mode) |
| Amount | £3,824,192 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/P024734/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2017 |
| End | 03/2021 |
| Description | EPSRC Strategic Equipment Grant |
| Amount | £993,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/R025363/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2018 |
| End | 03/2022 |
| Description | Frequency metrology for precision measurements on matter antimatter symmetry |
| Amount | £1,515,048 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/T01086X/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 01/2025 |
| Description | Marie Curie International Training Network |
| Amount | € 3,848,976 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 721559 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 09/2020 |
| Description | STFC LTA |
| Amount | £154,407 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2016 |
| End | 07/2018 |
| Description | STFC Studentship (Cockcroft) |
| Amount | £70,292 (GBP) |
| Organisation | STFC Laboratories |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2015 |
| End | 02/2018 |
| Description | Towards Precision Experiments with Antihydrogen |
| Amount | £4,790,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/P024769/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2017 |
| End | 06/2021 |
| Title | SDR-EVC |
| Description | We have successfully combined the known techniques of Strong Drive Rotating (SDR) wall and Evaporative Cooling (EVC) to develop a new technique that we have dubbed SDR-EVC. The technique allows tailoring non-neutral plasmas held in Penning traps on all their parameters except their temperature (i.e. you can tailor their number, density and size). The technique is particularly useful in connection with use of positrons, as it allows one to stabilize the number of particles for experiments with positrons, that are often accumulated in a fashion that cause some fluctuation in the number, density and size of what's accumulated. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This new tool has assisted in the development of new techniques for trapping antihydrogen that has allowed an order of magnitude increase in the rate at which we can trap antihydrogen. It has also been of great use for allowing us to accumulate antihydrogen a trap and thus reaching much larger numbers than hitherto possible. Finally the stability it engenders has made the experiments on antihydrogen more reliable and reproducible facilitating a number of recent breakthroughs in antihydrogen physics. |
| 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 | ALPHA CERN Cryogenics |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | CERN - Other |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have developed a cryogenics control system for an 8-magnet superconducting magnetic trap, as well as a control and monitoring system for the magnets. |
| Collaborator Contribution | CERN has provided 16 LHC High Temperature Superconducting leads for the realization of a magnetic antimatter trap, as well as providing cryogenics consultation and design support. |
| Impact | Ongoing |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | ALPHA Collaboration |
| Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
| Department | ALPHA Experiment |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | As co-founders of the collaboration, we have provided funding and expertise in multiple areas of key importance to this experiment : Super conducting magnets, Lasers, Plasma physics, Trap physics, Antiproton physics, Antitrapping, Positrons, Positron accumulation, Cryogenics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Partners and expertise (in parenthesis) are come from Brazil (Lasers), Canada (Detectors/DAQ), Denmark (Lasers, Antihydrogen), UK (Detectors, Plasma physics plus the above), US (plasma physics, Simulation). The contributations are estimated based on 10 year running of the experiment with 30 academics contributing cash for running and maintenance and about 20 FTE's per year of running plus 3M of contributions of kit. |
| Impact | This is an enormously successful collaboration having resulted in 4 Nature papers and a large volume of other papers as well as heavy representation in the media. It is physics-multidisciplinary in that the collaboration spans several normally separate areas of physics : cryogenics, plasma physics, atomic physics, particle physics, fundamental physics, laser physics, positron physics, and spectroscopy |
| Start Year | 2006 |
| Description | Antimatter Lectures and Tours at CERN |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | I give antimatter related lectures on a regular basis for school groups from Wales, UK, Denmark and Finland. Typically I entertain a about 300 pupils per year this way. The lectures are followed by guided visits to the experiments, in particular the ALPHA experiment where UK is a lead contributor. I have many repeat visits (same teacher, new students) - and both teachers and students give very enthusiastic feedback from these visits. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
| Description | Antimatter Matters exhibition at the Gravity Fields Festival in Grantham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Antimatter Matters Royal Society Exhibition was moved to the thirds gravity fields festival and participated in the activities in the Guildhall. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.gravityfields.co.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=17942&p=0 |
| Description | Antimatter Matters: Manchester Science Week (Manchester Museum of Science and Industry) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Antimatter Matters is an exhibit which was awarded a place at the prestigious British Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition in 2016. The general goal on the outreach activity was to educate the public about both practical and scientific interest in antimatter. The exhibit consisted of an exhibition stand with materials describing the principles of the ALPHA experiment, LHCb, and Positron Emission Tomography scanners. Thousands of visitors participated in the activity and spoke with exhibitors over the course of the week-long event. Numerous one-on-one discussions took place with members of the public who were surprised that they could understand the background and goals of a topic that previously had seemed like science fiction. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.manchestersciencefestival.com/ |
| Description | Antimatter Matters: Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Antimatter Matters is an exhibit which was awarded a place at the prestigious British Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition in 2016. The general goal on the outreach activity was to educate the public about both practical and scientific interest in antimatter. The exhibit consisted of an exhibition stand with materials describing the principles of the ALPHA experiment, LHCb, and Positron Emission Tomography scanners. Thousands of visitors participated in the activity and spoke with exhibitors over the course of the week-long event. Numerous one-on-one discussions took place with members of the public who were surprised that they could understand the background and goals of a topic that previously had seemed like science fiction. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/summer-science-exhibition/exhibits/antimatter-m... |
| 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 | Article in Advances Wales (Welsh Government) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I participated in an article in Advances Wales showcasing our antihydrogen research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://businesswales.gov.wales/sites/business-wales/files/documents/Advances%2079%20final.pdf |
| 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 | CERN Public Engagement Talks |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Public engagement talks are routinely delivered to public groups and school groups. Group sizes are typically on the order of 20 per visit. I meet with several groups per year |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016 |
| Description | Christmas lecture in Aberystwyth |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to give a "fun and educational" Christmas lecture of a group of local schools (sixt form / A-levels) at Aberytswyth University. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Guided Tours for High School Students, Visitors |
| 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 | Guided tours are given to groups of 10's of students (6th-form and older), as well as the visiting public and professionals. Tours often spark discussions about fundamental physics and the nature of the universe. Professionals in, for example the IT industry, are always interested in seeing applications of their products. Public visitors are often surprised at the differences between "real" physics experiments and the portrayal in the media. Nothing specific, though school groups have followed-up with requests for informational slides. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014 |
| Description | Hosting schools at the Antimatter Factory (both for visits and presentations) |
| 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 should around about 30 school classes per year with about 30 students in each in the experiment. Many of them also enjoy an introductory presentation about our experiments. The feedback is always very positive to the likes of "the antimatter visit was the best part", and the teachers report really positively about it. We therefore have a number of Schools who return annually or bi-annually and pre-emptively contact us to exactly get the "antimatter experience". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| Description | How The Heck Do Scientists CREATE Antimatter? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Youtube video for Discovery network's (DNews) Seeker channel. Interviewed on the topic of antimatter research taking place on ALPHA at CERN. Nearly 200,000 views presently and over 600 comments in the thread. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL2F046-PQw&t=3s |
| Description | Invited school talk: The Color of Antihydrogen |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Scientific talk with a question and answer session with high school students at the Hopkins School, New Haven, CT |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
| Description | Manchester Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Manchester Science Festival the royal society invited us to present our Antimatter Matters exhibit. This was a great opportunity to reach further audiences with this activity that we had already tuned for schools and the general public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/science-exhibition-manchester/exhibits/ |
| 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 | Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition : Antimatter Matters |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In collaboration with about 10 other UK institutions members of the LHCb collaboration at CERN the UK ALPHA members (Swansea, Liverpool and Manchester) organised (Responsible organisers Prof. N. Madsen (Swansea), C. Lazzaroni (Birmingham), T. Shears (Liverpool) and C. Parkes (Manchester)) a stand/exhibit at the annual Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. This is a competition based invitees-only exhibition (i.e. you compete to get invited to exhibit) and it's very professional (in both presentation and organisation). A great number of schools visit the exhibit and also many members of the general public. A number of special events were also hosted,with MEP's as wells FRS. The RS and well as ourselves collected feedback from participants who greatly appreciated and reported increased interest in science thanks to our exhibit. We continue to tour the exhibit at various UK science events - so more events will be reported here. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/summer-science-exhibition/exhibits/antimatter-m... |
| Description | Royal society summer exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Exhibition about physics at CERN |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| 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 | Welsh and UK teachers programmes @ CERN |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In collaboration with CERN's teachers programmes I deliver presentations and discussions on the subjects of our research (Antimatter) to UK high school teachers. Each year there are currently three teachers programmes (one week each, with about 25 participants) of which one has been focussed on physics teachers in Welsh Schools (A and AS levels). These programmes help enthuse teachers to bring modern and contemporary physics into the class room as well as show them how they can bring their own students to CERN in an effort to highten their interest in STEM subjects. In collaboration with CERN we have received very very positive feedback on this. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | https://home.cern/students-educators/teacher-programmes |
| Description | Winter School on Physics with Trapped Charged Particles |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | In collaboration with Profs. Richard Thompson and Martina Knoop of Imperial College London and Aix-Marseille Universities respectively I have organised and chaired a winter school on physics with trapped charge particles in January 2012, 2015 and 2018. Each school is 10 days long with presentations and workshops by internationally recognized leaders in the field give to about 55 participants who are mainly Ph.D. students and some PDRAs. The school has been a great success each time and we will repeat it in January 2021. So far only limited external support has been received for this but we're organising it that L'ecole de Physique des Houches, which is a sort of charitable organisation for physics events. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2015,2018 |
| URL | http://indico.cern.ch/event/315947/ |