A Laser-Cooled, High Density Positron Plasma
Abstract
We present results on trapping and cooling of positrons in a Penning trap. Up to a few thousand positrons are trapped and sympathetically cooled through Coulomb collisions (sympathetic cooling) with laser-cooled (9)Be(+) ions. By imaging the (9)Be(+) laser-induced fluorescence, we observe centrifugal separation of the (9)Be(+) ions and the positrons, with the positrons coalescing into a column along the trap axis. This indicates the positrons have the same rotation frequency and comparable density ( ^4 x 10(exp9)/cu cm as the (9)Be(+) ions, and places an upper limit of approximately 5 K on the positron temperature of motion parallel to the magnetic field. The measured positron lifetime is > 8 days in our room temperature vacuum of 10(exp-8) Pa.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 24, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADP012495
Entities
People
- A. S. Newbury
- B. M. Jelenkovic
- J. J. Bollinger
- T. B. Mitchell
- W. M. Itano
Organizations
- National Institute of Standards and Technology