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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 18: Ultracold atoms II (jointly with Q)

A 18.1: Talk

Thursday, March 13, 2008, 08:30–08:45, 2F

Towards laser cooling of negative ions — •Raoul Heyne, Jan Meier, Ulrich Warring, and Alban Kellerbauer — Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Postfach 103980, 69029 Heidelberg

Currently available ion cooling techniques do not allow the cooling of negatively charged particles confined in an ion trap to a temperature lower than that of the (cryogenic) environment. The proposed laser cooling of negative osmium ions [1] holds the prospect of achieving temperatures well below 1 mK. Cooling antiprotons with this technique might open the door to forming antihydrogen at ultra-cold temperatures, thus allowing precision antimatter studies. We will outline the unique techniques and challenges involved in this cooling scheme and report intermediate results on Os⁻ production, manipulation, and spectroscopy.

[1] A. Kellerbauer and J. Walz, “A novel cooling scheme for antiprotons,” New J. Phys. 8 (2006) 45.