To create antihydrogen and keep it from immediately annihilating, the ALPHA team cooled antiprotons and compressed them into a matchstick-size cloud. Then the researchers nudged this cloud of cold, compressed antiprotons so it overlapped with a like-size positron cloud, where the two particles mated to form antihydrogen.
All this happened inside a magnetic bottle that traps the antihydrogen atoms. The magnetic trap is a specially configured magnetic field that uses an unusual and expensive superconducting magnet to prevent the antimatter particles from running into the edges of the bottle - which is made of normal matter and would annihilate with the antimatter on contact.
The idea of a special magnetic bottle sounds pretty cool. It brings to mind the Enterprise Warp Core which IIRC is trilithium crystals floating in a magnetic containment field.
No comments:
Post a Comment