Positronium for antihydrogen production in the AEGIS experiment

The primary goal of the Antihydrogen Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEGIS) collaboration is to measure for the first time precisely the gravitational acceleration of antihydrogen, H¯ , a fundamental issue of contemporary physics, using a beam of antiatoms. Indeed, although indirect arguments have been raised against a different acceleration of antimatter with respect to matter, nevertheless some attempts to formulate quantum theories of gravity, or to unify gravity with the other forces, consider the possibility of a non-identical gravitational interaction between matter and antimatter. We plan to generate H¯ through a charge-exchange reaction between excited Ps and antiprotons coming from the Antiproton Decelerator facility at CERN. It offers the advantage to produce sufficiently cold antihydrogen to make feasible a measurement of gravitational acceleration with reasonable uncertainty (of the order of a few percent). Since the cross-section of the above reaction increases with n^4, n being the principal quantum number of Ps, it is essential to generate Ps in a highly excited (Rydberg) state. This will occur by means of two laser excitations of Ps emitted from a nanoporous silica target: a first UV laser (at 205 nm) will bring Ps from the ground to the n = 3 state; a second laser pulse (tunable in the range 1650–1700 nm) will further excite Ps to the Rydberg state.