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Laser cooling of anti hydrogen at CERN

Nature of 31. March2021 presents a result from a large group of CERN researches, including several from IFA, that cooling of anti hydrogen with laser has succeeded. The technique is well known, but this is the first time that it has been shown to work on anti matter.

[Translate to English:] Sådan foregår laserkølingen af antihydrogen. Illustration fra Nature's pressemeddelelse.
[Translate to English:] Sådan foregår laserkølingen af antihydrogen. Illustration fra Nature's pressemeddelelse.

Spokesman of the ALPHA-group at CERN, Jeffrey Hangst from IFA explains:“The ability to laser-cool antihydrogen atoms is a game-changer for spectroscopic and gravitational measurements, and it could lead to new perspectives in antimatter research, such as the creation of antimatter molecules and the development of anti-atom interferometry. We’re over the moon. About a decade ago, laser cooling of antimatter was in the realm of science fiction.”

The press release from CERN gives many more details and background for the new result, and the paper in Nature is available here.