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Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 073401 (2004) [4 pages]

First Measurement of the Velocity of Slow Antihydrogen Atoms

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G. Gabrielse1,*, A. Speck1, C. H. Storry1, D. LeSage1, N. Guise1, D. Grzonka2, W. Oelert2, G. Schepers2, T. Sefzick2, H. Pittner3, J. Walz3, T. W. Hänsch3,4, D. Comeau5, and E. A. Hessels5 (ATRAP Collaboration)
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
2IKP, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany
3Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
4Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstrasse 4/III, 80799 München, Germany
5York University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada

Received 31 March 2004; published 10 August 2004

The speed of antihydrogen atoms is deduced from the fraction that passes through an oscillating electric field without ionizing. The weakly bound atoms used for this first demonstration travel about 20 times more rapidly than the average thermal speed of the antiprotons from which they form, if these are in thermal equilibrium with their 4.2 K container. The method should be applicable to much more deeply bound states, which may well be moving more slowly, and should aid the quest to lower the speed of the atoms as required if they are to be trapped for precise spectroscopy.

© 2004 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.073401
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.073401
PACS:
36.10.–k

*Corresponding author.

Electronic address: gabrielse@physics.harvard.edu

 
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