PhD Scholarships in Antihydrogen and Positronium Physics

Swansea University, Department of Physics PhD Scholarship in Antihydrogen and Positronium Physics.

The Physics Department at Swansea University has an opening for a PhD position in the Atomic Molecular and Laser Physics Group which is available from April 2010, or as soon as possible thereafter.

A number of the members of this group are part of the ALPHA antihydrogen collaboration whose experiment is located at the Antiproton Decelerator Facility at CERN, Geneva. The goal of ALPHA is to test laws of symmetry by comparing the energy levels of hydrogen and antihydrogen. Presently, ALPHA produces antihydrogen atoms and is attempting to trap some of them in an effort to perform spectroscopy. Crucially, only anti-atoms with very low kinetic energies can be trapped in a neutral magnetic particle trap. ALPHA is currently exploring several ways of lowering the energy of the antihydrogen. One promising avenue is to use antiproton interactions with highly excited positronium (the positron-electron bound state) in the antihydrogen formation process to improve the yield of cold anti-atoms.

Part of the development work will take place at Swansea where the student will work mainly on the laser-driven production of highly excited (so-called Rydberg) positronium states. There will also be an opportunity to take part in the antimatter trapping experiments with ALPHA at CERN.

Candidate eligibility:

• Applicants should will have, or expect to get, at least a 2:1 class of degree, or equivalent, from a 4 year physics undergraduate course.
• The post is for a duration of 3.5 years.
• Suitably qualified applicants from all EU states are eligible for this scholarship.

Further information:

Prof. M. Charlton
Tel: 01792 295372

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TR 12/03/10