Radial Compression of a Non-neutral Plasma in a Non-uniform Magnetic Field of a Cusp Trap
- Atomic Physics Laboratory, RIKEN, Wako 351-0198 (Japan)
Spectroscopic comparison of antihydrogen and hydrogen atoms is one of the best candidates for the stringent tests of the CPT symmetry, and intensive studies are being carried out by using Antiproton Decelerator at CERN. The ASACUSA collaboration has constructed a superconducting cusp trap for the formation, trapping and extraction of antihydrogen atoms, where a quadrupole magnetic field is generated by a pair of anti-Helmholtz coils with anti-parallel currents. The cusp configuration is considerably advantageous for the extraction of spin-polarized and ground-state antihydrogen beams that are ideal for the spectroscopic measurements of hyperfine structures of the ground state of antihydrogen. For the effective generation of antihydrogen atoms, it is essential to form high density and stable plasmas of antiproton and positrons. In this study, we applied a rotating electric field to an electron plasma in the inhomogeneous cusp magnetic field, and demonstrated the effective radial compression of a non-neutral plasma in a broad frequency range. The compression rate depended on the rotating frequency and had a broad peak extending on both sides of a longitudinal (1,0) mode frequency, which was the only observed characteristic frequency. The similar procedure can in principle be applied to positron and antiproton plasmas, and the results are one of necessary steps toward antihydrogen experiments in the cusp trap.
- OSTI ID:
- 21300437
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1114, Issue 1; Conference: Non-neutral plasma physics VII: Workshop on non-neutral plasmas 2008, New York, NY (United States), 16-20 Jun 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3122279; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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