A reservoir trap for antiprotons

• A reservoir trap for antiprotons or for other exotic particles has been developed.
• We implemented a novel scheme for single particle extraction from the reservoir.
• The extraction scheme is reversible and without particle loss.
• In this trap we achieve antiproton storage times of more than 1 year.
• This enables antiproton precision measurements independent from accelerator cycles.

We have developed techniques to extract arbitrary fractions of antiprotons from an accumulated reservoir, and to inject them into a Penning-trap system for high-precision measurements. In our trap-system antiproton storage times >1.08 years are estimated. The device is fail-safe against power-cuts of up to 10 h. This makes our planned comparisons of the fundamental properties of protons and antiprotons independent from accelerator cycles, and will enable us to perform experiments during long accelerator shutdown periods when background magnetic noise is low. The demonstrated scheme has the potential to be applied in many other precision Penning trap experiments dealing with exotic particles.

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