High Efficiency Positron Accumulation for High-Precision Measurements

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for efficiently accumulating positrons in a Penning trap, enabling high-precision measurements of fundamental particle properties with minimal radiation exposure.

Contribution

It introduces a novel positron accumulation technique using a weak radioactive source and a mechanically aligned cryogenic trap for improved measurement precision.

Findings

Successful accumulation of positrons in a cryogenic Penning trap.

Minimal radiation exposure due to the weak radioactive source.

High magnetic field achieved with superconducting solenoid.

Abstract

Positrons are accumulated within a Penning trap designed to make more precise measurements of the positron and electron magnetic moments. The retractable radioactive source used is weak enough to require no license for handling radioactive material and the radiation dosage one meter from the source gives an exposure several times smaller than the average radiation dose on the earth's surface. The 100 mK trap is mechanically aligned with the 4.2 K superconducting solenoid that produces a 6 tesla magnetic trapping field with a direct mechanical coupling.