Letter

Quantum reflection of antihydrogen from a liquid helium film

, , , , , , and

Published 10 October 2017 Copyright © EPLA, 2017
, , Citation P.-P. Crépin et al 2017 EPL 119 33001 DOI 10.1209/0295-5075/119/33001

0295-5075/119/3/33001

Abstract

We study the quantum reflection of ultracold antihydrogen atoms bouncing on the surface of a liquid helium film. The Casimir-Polder potential and quantum reflection are calculated for different thicknesses of the film supported by different substrates. Antihydrogen can be protected from annihilation for as long as 1.3 s on a bulk of liquid 4He, and 1.7 s for liquid 3He. These large lifetimes open interesting perspectives for spectroscopic measurements of the free fall acceleration of antihydrogen. Variation of the scattering length with the thickness of a film of helium shows interferences which we interpret through a Liouville transformation of the quantum reflection problem.

Export citation and abstract BibTeX RIS

Access this article

The computer you are using is not registered by an institution with a subscription to this article. Please choose one of the options below.

Login

IOPscience login

Find out more about journal subscriptions at your site.

Purchase from

Article Galaxy
CCC RightFind

Purchase this article from our trusted document delivery partners.

Make a recommendation

To gain access to this content, please complete the Recommendation Form and we will follow up with your librarian or Institution on your behalf.

For corporate researchers we can also follow up directly with your R&D manager, or the information management contact at your company. Institutional subscribers have access to the current volume, plus a 10-year back file (where available).