First Antimatter Chemistry

Antimatter chemistry takes place inside a Penning trap, an electrostatic trap whose electrodes (pink cylinders) hold charged particles nearly in place. Antiprotons, created in the CERN proton synchrotron and then slowed down, are further cooled when they enter the trap by sending them into a swarm of positrons. Then the antiprotons chemically interact with molecular hydrogen ions (H₂⁺) to form neutral hydrogen atoms and protonium (which consists of a proton and antiproton bound together briefly). Later the antiprotons annihilate with the protons, before reaching the
trap surface.

Reported by: Zurlo et al., Physical Review Letters, 13 October 2006

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