1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of atomic particle physics. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process for the production of antihydrogen.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Antihydrogen is the simplest of the antimatter elements. It comprises a nucleus of a single antiproton enveloped by a single orbiting positron. In the absence of reaction with normal matter, antihydrogen is a stable species having an indefinite half-life. Antihydrogen is a potent energy storage medium and is an important reactant in matter-antimatter anihilation reactions.
There have been a number of schemes proposed for producing antihydrogen. Unfortunately, many of the schemes result in low yields of high-energy antihydrogen which is not suitable for study. One proposed process for producing antihydrogen in detectable quantities at low energies is the subject of U.S. patent Ser. No. 4,867,939 to Deutch which issued on Sep. 19, 1989. Deutch teaches a process for producing antihydrogen from antiproton-positronium collision via Auger capture. Specifically, the process comprises the interaction of antiprotons having an average energy of less than about 50 KeV and positronium having an average energy on the order of thermal energies. The positronium utilized in the process is ground-state positronium produced by bombarding an aluminum-based positronium converter with a high-energy positron beam. It is this ground-state positronium which undergoes charge-exchange with antiprotons to produce antihydrogen.
Although the Deutch process is superior to earlier processes, there is still a requirement for an improved process which can be used to produce higher yield of antihydrogen in a stable state suitable for study. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a process.