Quantum reflection of antihydrogen from nanoporous media

TL;DR

This paper investigates how increasing porosity in nanoporous media enhances quantum reflection of antihydrogen atoms due to Casimir-Polder interactions, with implications for trapping and guiding antihydrogen.

Contribution

It introduces a simple effective medium model to quantify the effect of porosity on antihydrogen quantum reflection probabilities.

Findings

Higher porosity significantly increases reflection probability.

Quantum reflection at low energies can be utilized for antihydrogen trapping.

Porous media offer a promising platform for antihydrogen manipulation.

Abstract

We study quantum reflection of antihydrogen atoms from nanoporous media due to the Casimir-Polder (CP) potential. Using a simple effective medium model, we show a dramatic increase of the probability of quantum reflection of antihydrogen atoms if the porosity of the medium increases. We discuss the limiting case of reflections at small energies, which have interesting applications for trapping and guiding antihydrogen using material walls.