Producing long-lived $2^3\text{S}$ Ps via $3^3\text{P}$ laser excitation in magnetic and electric fields

Abstract

Producing positronium (Ps) in the metastable $2^3\text{S}$ state is of interest for various applications in fundamental physics. We report here about an experiment in which Ps atoms are produced in this long-lived state by spontaneous radiative decay of Ps excited to the $3^3\text{P}$ level manifold. The Ps cloud excitation is obtained with a UV laser pulse in an experimental vacuum chamber in presence of guiding magnetic field of 25 mT and an average electric field of 300 V/cm. The indication of the $2^3\text{S}$ state production is obtained from a novel analysis technique of single-shot positronium annihilation lifetime spectra. Its production efficiency relative to the total amount of formed Ps is evaluated by fitting a simple rate equations model to the experimental data and found to be $(2.1\pm 1.3)\%$.

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Positronium Physics and Biomedical Applications
• Velocity selected production of $2^{3}S$ metastable positronium
• Toward inertial sensing with a monochromatic $2^{3}S$ positronium beam
• Rydberg-positronium velocity and self-ionization studies in 1T magnetic field and cryogenic environment
• Efficient $2^{3}S$ positronium production by stimulated decay from the $3^{3}P$ level
• A large-momentum-transfer matter-wave interferometer to measure the effect of gravity on positronium
• Absolute fraction of emitted Ps determined by GEANT4 supported analysis of gamma spectra