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arXiv · 1606.05840

Spatial confinement of muonium atoms

K. S. Khaw·A. Antognini·T. Prokscha·K. Kirch·L. Liszkay·Z. Salman·P. Crivelli
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Abstract

We report the achievement of spatial confinement of muonium atoms (the bound state of a positive muon and an electron). Muonium emitted into vacuum from mesoporous silica reflects between two SiO$_2$ confining surfaces separated by 1 mm. From the data, one can extract that the reflection probability on the confining surfaces kept at 100 K is about 90% and the reflection process is well described by a cosine law. This technique enables new experiments with this exotic atomic system and is a very important step towards a measurement of the 1S-2S transition frequency using continuous wave laser spectroscopy.

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K. S. Khaw, A. Antognini, T. Prokscha, K. Kirch, L. Liszkay, Z. Salman, P. Crivelli. 2016-06-19. Spatial confinement of muonium atoms. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.94.022716

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