Design study of an antiproton trap for the GBAR experiment
Résumé
The GBAR (Gravitational Behaviour of Antihydrogen at Rest)
experiment at CERN has been proposed to measure the gravitational
acceleration of the ultracold antihydrogen atoms. This experiment
produces antihydrogen ions through interactions between antiprotons
and positronium atoms. Then, antihydrogen atoms are produced for
the free-fall experiment after the photo-detachment of an excess
positron from the cold antihydrogen ions. The energy of the
antiproton beam before the positronium target chamber will be in the
range of 1–10 keV. The cross-section for the reaction between the
antiprotons and positroniums depends mainly on the energy of the
antiprotons. Hence, to maximize the productivity of antihydrogen
ions, a sufficient number of antiprotons should be provided with
well-controlled energy. In this regard, an antiproton trap is
considered to accumulate and slow down antiproton beams, and cool
them utilizing the electron cooling technique. This trap is
designed based on the Penning-Malmberg trap, which consists of a
superconducting solenoid magnet and a series of ring electrodes
including high-voltage electrodes to trap antiprotons. In addition,
a set of extraction electrodes and optics for beam transport are
used. Each electrode has been designed and optimized using the WARP
PIC simulations. In this study, the design and simulation results
of each trap component are presented.
Mots clés
Accelerator Applications
Accelerator modelling and simulations (multi-particle dynamics
single-particle dynamics)
Beam dynamics
Instrumentation for particle accelerators and storage rings - low energy (linear accelerators
cyclotrons
electrostatic accelerators)
antihydrogen
ion
anti-p
beam
energy
positronium
target
magnet
solenoid
accelerator
electrostatic
superconductivity
low
electrode
atom
acceleration
gravitation
positron
CERN Lab
beam transport
optics
electron cooling
linear accelerator
cyclotron
beam dynamics
at rest