Research report 2009 - Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics

Using lasers to study antimatter atoms

Authors
Hori, Masaki
Departments

Antimatter Spectroscopy (Dr. Masaki Hori)
MPI für Quantenoptik, Garching

Summary
According to modern cosmological theories, matter and antimatter were created in almost equal amounts after the Big Bang. But the visible universe now seems to be made entirely out of matter. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics used particle accelerators at the CERN laboratory of Geneva to synthesize exotic atoms containing antimatter particles. One of these is antiprotonic helium, which consists of an antiproton and electron orbiting a helium nucleus. Lasers were used to precisely study its properties and explore the fundamental symmetries between matter and antimatter.

For the full text, see the German version.

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