For the first time, physicists have succeeded in successfully realizing a new method for cooling protons using laser-cooled ions - in this case beryllium ions. The innovative feature of the new system is that the two particle types are located in spatially separated traps. This means it is now possible to provide the cooling effect with the help of an electrical resonant circuit over a distance of nine centimetres from one trap to the other. The team was able to demonstrate that protons can be cooled to significantly lower temperatures in one of the traps than would be possible without beryllium. The new technique can be used for all charged particles, even antiprotons, for which there is no other cooling method in this temperature range. What is particularly exciting is that it should now be possible to conduct experiments in which matter and antimatter can be compared more precisely. The results of the research have been published in the eminent scientific journal Nature.
The development was carried out, in part, within the framework of the collaborative research centre DQ-mat. Matthias Borchert and Christian Ospelkaus from the Institute of Quantum Optics at the University of Hanover and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt were among those involved.
Please find complete press release on the Leibniz University website.
Original article:
Bohman, M., Grunhofer, V., Smorra, C. et al.: Sympathetic cooling of a trapped proton mediated by an LC circuit. Nature 596, 514–518 (2021).
