High-accuracy spectroscopic comparisons of trapped antihydrogen atoms ($overline{text{H}}$) and hydrogen atoms ($text{H}$) promise to stringently test the fundamental CPT symmetry invariance of the standard model of particle physics. ATRAPs nested Penning-Ioffe trap was developed for such studies. The first of its unique features is that its magnetic Ioffe trap for $overline{text{H}}$ atoms can be switched between quadrupole and octupole symmetries. The second is that it allows laser and microwave access perpendicular to the central axis of the traps.
Significant systematic errors in high-precision Penning trap mass spectrometry can result from electric and magnetic field imperfections. An experimental procedure to minimize these uncertainties is presented for the on-line Penning trap mass spectro
meter ISOLTRAP, located at ISOLDE/CERN. The deviations from the ideal magnetic and electric fields are probed by measuring the cyclotron frequency and the reduced cyclotron frequency, respectively, of stored ions as a function of the time between the ejection of ions from the preparation trap and their capture in the precision trap, which influences the energy of their axial motion. The correction parameters are adjusted to minimize the frequency shifts.
The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment KATRIN aims at improving the upper limit of the mass of the electron antineutrino to about 0.2 eV (90% c.l.) by investigating the beta-decay of tritium gas molecules. The experiment is currently under constru
ction to start first data taking in 2012. One source of systematic uncertainties in the KATRIN experiment is the formation of ion clusters when tritium decays and decay products interact with residual tritium molecules. It is essential to monitor the abundances of these clusters since they have different final state energies than tritium ions. For this purpose, a prototype of a cylindrical Penning trap has been constructed and tested at the Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, which will be installed in the KATRIN beam line. This system employs the technique of Fourier-Transform Ion-Cyclotron-Resonance in order to measure the abundances of the different stored ion species.
The ASACUSA CUSP collaboration at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) of CERN is planning to measure the ground-state hyperfine splitting of antihydrogen using an atomic spectroscopy beamline. We describe here the latest developments on the spectroscopy
apparatus developed to be coupled to the antihydrogen production setup (CUSP).
Phase-imaging ion-cyclotron-resonance technique has been implemented at the Penning-trap mass spectrometer JYFLTRAP and is routinely employed for mass measurements of stable and short-lived nuclides produced at IGISOL facility. Systematic uncertainti
es that impose limitations on the accuracy of measurements are discussed. It was found out that the phase evolution of the radial motion of ions in a Penning trap during the application of radio-frequency fields leads to a systematic cyclotron frequency shift when more than one ion species is present in the trap during the cyclotron frequency measurement. An analytic expression was derived to correctly account for the shift. Cross-reference mass measurements with carbon-cluster ions have been performed providing the mass-dependent and residual uncertainties.
ALPHA is an international project that has recently begun experimentation at CERNs Antiproton Decelerator (AD) facility. The primary goal of ALPHA is stable trapping of cold antihydrogen atoms with the ultimate goal of precise spectroscopic compariso
ns with hydrogen. We discuss the status of the ALPHA project and the prospects for antihydrogen trapping.