An Antiproton Deceleration Device for the GBAR Experiment at CERN

Abstract

The GBAR experiment aims at performing the first free-fall experiment with antihydrogen atoms in order to test the weak equivalence principle with antimatter. Antihydrogen ions are synthesized through a double charge exchange reaction and laser cooled to energies small enough to see gravitational effects. Anti-ion synthesis requires a large number of antiprotons, hence high efficiency. We report here the design of an new electrostatic deceleration device providing low energy antiprotons of a few keV. This technique will avoid losses inherent to the use of a degrader foil.