Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/S71712/01
Title:	Experiments on the Internal Quantum States of Antihydrogen
Principal Investigator:	Charlton, Professor M
Other Investigators:	Telle, Professor HH
Researcher Co-Investigators:	Dr LV Jorgensen Professor DP van der Werf
Project Partners:	CERN
Department:	Physics
Organisation:	Swansea University
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 October 2003	Ends:	30 September 2005	Value (£):	454,053
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Atoms & Ions
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
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Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Atoms of antihydrogen, the bound state comprising a positron and an antiproton, were recently produced and detected at low kinetic energies for the first time. This was achieved by the ATHENA collaboration working at CERN's unique Antiproton Decelerator facility where carefully prepared clouds of positrons and antiprotons were mixed under controlled conditions in vacuum. This advance has opened up an new field of research in fundamental physics. The proposal seeks to exploit this breakthrough by performing experiments aimed at optimisiing the production of cold antihydrogen and elucuidating the detailed mechanisms responsible for the formation process. In particluar the dependence of the reaction on positron density and temperature will be studied.Historically, spectroscopy of simple atomic systems, such as hydrogen, has been one of the most important discovery grounds for physics research. We propose to begin spectroscopic work on antihydrogen by studying laser induced recombination. These will be the first experiments of their kind. In the longer term it will be necessary to perform spectroscopy on cold, trapped antihydrgen in order to reach the highest precisions. With this in mind we propose to undertake research to develop a combined charged particle/neutral trap such that charged plasmas and antihydrogen can be stored simultaneously.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.swan.ac.uk