Manipulation of positron plasma using the AEgIS system at CERN

Abstract: AEgIS is an experiment at CERN where the goal is to directly measure the gravitational force on antimatter by producing antihydrogen. The antihydrogen will be produced by a charge exchange reaction using laser excited positronium and cold antiprotons. Having a well-characterized positron plasma with at least 108 positrons and knowing how it can be controlled is essential for the positronium production. This thesis is based on the goals of AEgIS experiment and describes the positron plasma manipulations being used in AEgIS in order to achieve the required plasma properties for the experiment. The positron system is made up by a source, a Surko trap and a Penning-Malmberg trap. This system was first optimized to increase the number of positrons. The plasma was then moved to the main traps of the experiment where it was systematically characterized in terms of lifetime, cooling efficiency and compression. Positron plasma compression in time, trapping and cooling was tested for the first time in AEgIS using a buncher and Penning-Malmberg traps respectively. In this thesis, it is shown that a compression of more than 50 % in time of the positron cloud using a buncher can be achieved. It is also shown that trapping and cooling with an efficiency of nearly 100 % in the main traps using a “V” shaped potential trap was successful. On top of that, the lifetime inside this “V” shaped potential trap was observed to be longer than 30 minutes.