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Evaluation of a caesium fountain frequency standard for antihydrogen spectroscopy
,
Niels Madsen ,
J S Hangst,
K Gibble ,
K Szymaniec ,
R J Hendricks,
Stefan Eriksson
Metrologia, Volume: 62, Issue: 4, Start page: 045008
Swansea University Authors:
Janko Nauta, Edward Thorpe-Woods, Joos Schoonwater, Niels Madsen , Stefan Eriksson
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DOI (Published version): 10.1088/1681-7575/adf64a
Abstract
The performance of a caesium fountain frequency reference for use in precision measurements of trapped antihydrogen in the ALPHA experiment at CERN is evaluated. A description of the fountain is provided together with a characterisation of systematic effects. The impact of the magnetic environment i...
| Published in: | Metrologia |
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| ISSN: | 0026-1394 1681-7575 |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70093 |
| Abstract: |
The performance of a caesium fountain frequency reference for use in precision measurements of trapped antihydrogen in the ALPHA experiment at CERN is evaluated. A description of the fountain is provided together with a characterisation of systematic effects. The impact of the magnetic environment in the Antimatter Factory, where the fountain is installed, on the performance of the fountain is considered and shown to be insignificant. The systematic fractional frequency uncertainty of the fountain is 3.0 × 10−16. The short-term frequency stability of the measured frequency from the ALPHA-HM1 maser is 1.5 × 10−13τ−1/2, whereas the fountain itself shows a stability limit of 4.7 × 10−14τ−1/2. We find a fractional frequency difference of (1.0 ± 2.2 (stat.) ± 6.5 (syst.)) ×10−16 in a comparison with Terrestrial Time via a GNSS Common View satellite link between January 2023 and June 2024. The fountain enables a significant increase in frequency precision in antihydrogen spectroscopic measurements, and paves the way for improved limits on matter–antimatter comparisons. |
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| Keywords: |
caesium fountain, antihydrogen, precision measurements, primary frequency standard, atomic clocks |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
This work was supported by the EPSRC (UK), the Carlsberg Foundation (Denmark), the European Research Council through its Grant programme (JSH) and the United States National Science Foundation under Award No. 2012117 (KG). |
| Issue: |
4 |
| Start Page: |
045008 |