Production and time-of-flight measurements of high Rydberg states of Positronium

One of our recent studies focused on measuring the lifetimes of Rydberg states of Positronium (Ps) [PRA. 93, 062513]. However, some of the limitations that prevented us from measuring lifetimes of states with higher principal quantum number (n), is the fact that such states can be easily ionised by the electric fields generated by the electrodes in our laser-excitation region (these electrodes are normally required to achieve an excitation electric field of nominally ~ 0 V/cm).

We have recently implemented a simple scheme to overcome this complication, whereby we make use of a high-voltage switch to turn discharge the electrodes in the interaction region after the laser excitation has taken place.

n19ionThe figure shown above show the Background-subtracted spectra (the SSPALS detector trace is recorded with a background and resonant wavelength, they are then normalised and subtracted from each other) for n = 18 and n = 19. It is clear from the “Switch Off” that when the high voltage switched is not utilised (and the voltages to all electrodes are always on), that most of the annihilations happen at early times, especially around ~100ns, this is the time it takes for the atoms to travel out of the low-field region, and become field-ionised by the DC voltage on the electrodes.

On the other hand, the “Switch On” curves show that both n = 18 and 19 have many more delayed events (after ~ 400 ns) due to Rydberg Ps being able to travel for much longer distances before annihilating when the switch is used to discharge the electrode biases.


The figure above shows  data taken by a detector set up for single-gamma-ray detection, approximately 12 cm away from the Ps production target, on the same experiment as described for the previous figure. It is clear from this data that the time-of-flight (TOF) to this detector is ~2 \mu \mathrm{s} However, in this case it is clear that only the n = 19 state benefited from having the “switch on”, indicating that is the smallest-n state that this scheme is necessary for our current electric-field configuration.

Comparing the SSPALS and TOF figures it can be seen that even though the n = 18 SSPALS signal was changed drastically, the n = 18 TOF distribution remained the same, this is a clear example of how changes in the SSPALS spectrum discussed in the first figure are indicative of changes in atom distributions close to the Ps production region, but are not necessarily correlated to TOF distributions measured at different positions across the Ps flight paths

These methods will eventually lead to more accurate measurement of the lifetimes of higher n-states of Ps, and the possibility of using those states with higher electric dipole moments for future atom-optics experiments, such as Ps electrostatic lenses and Stark decelerators.

Efficient production of n = 2 Positronium in S states

We routinely excite Positronium (Ps) into its first excited state (n = 2) via 1-photon resonant excitation [NJP. 17 043059], and even though most of the time this is an intermediate step for subsequent excitation to Rydberg (high n) states [PRL. 114, 173001], there is plenty of interesting physics to be explored in n = 2 alone, as we discussed in one of our recent studies [PRL. 115, 183401 and  PRA. 93, 012506].

In this study we showed that the polarisation of the excitation laser, as well as the electric field that the atoms are subjected to, have a drastic effect on the effective lifetime of the excited states and when Ps annihilates.


Above you can see the data for two laser polarisations, showing the Signal parameter S(%) as a function of electric field, this is essentially a measure of how likely Ps is to annihilate compared to ground-state (n = 1) Ps, that is to say, if S(%) is positive then n = 2 Ps in such configuration annihilates with shorter lifetimes than n = 1 Ps (142 ns), whereas if S(%) is negative then n = 2 Ps will annihilate with longer lifetimes than 142 ns, These longer lifetimes are present in the parallel polarisation (pannel a).

Using this polarisation, and applying a large negative or positive electric field (around 3 kV/cm), provides such long lifetimes due to the excited state containing a significant amount of triplet S character (2S), a substate of = 2 with spin = 1 and \ell = 0. If the Ps atoms are then allowed to travel (adiabatically) to a region of zero nominal electric field (our experimental set-up [RSI. 86, 103101] guarantees such transport), then they will be made up almost entirely of this long-lived triplet S character, and will thus annihilate at much later times than the background n = 1 atoms. These delayed annihilations can be easily detected by simply looking at the gamma-ray spectrum recorded by our LYSO detectors [NIMA. 828, 163] when the laser is on resonance (“Signal”), and subtracting it from the spectrum when the laser is off resonance (“Background”).

The figure above shows such spectra taken with the parallel laser polarisation, at a field where there should be minimal 2S Production (a), and a field where triplet S character is maximised (b).   It is obvious that on the second case, there are far more annihilations at later times, indicated by the positive values of the data on times up to 800 ns. This is clear evidence that we have efficiently produced = 2 triplet S states of Ps using single-photon excitation. Previous studies of 2S Ps produced such states either by collisional methods [PRL34, 1541], which is much more inefficient than single-photon excitation,  or by two-photon excitation, which is also more inefficient, requires much more laser power and is limited by photo-ionisation [PRL. 52, 1689].

This observation is the initial step before we begin a new set of experiments where we  will attempt to measure the = 2 hyperfine structure of Ps using microwaves!

P.A.M. Dirac

Yesterday marked the 114th anniversary of the birth of Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, one of the world’s greatest ever theoretical physicists. Born on the 8th of August 1902 in Bristol (UK), Dirac studied for his PhD at St. John’s college Cambridge University, where he would subsequently discover the equation that now bears his name,

iγ·∂ψ =  mψ .

The Dirac equation is a solution to the problem of describing an electron in a way that is consistent with both quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of relativity. His solution was unique in its natural inclusion of the electron “spin”, which had to otherwise be invoked to account for fine structure in atomic spectra. His brilliant contemporary, Wolfgang Pauli, described Dirac’s thinking as acrobatic. And several of Dirac’s theories are regarded as among the most beautiful and elegant of modern physics.

An important prediction of the Dirac equation is the existence of the anti-electron (also known as the  positron). This particle is equal in mass to the more familiar electron, but has the opposite electric charge. Dirac published his theory of the anti-electron in 1931 – two years before “the positive electron” was discovered by Carl Anderson. Dirac accurately mused that the anti-proton might also exist, and most physicists now believe that all particles posses an antimatter counterpart. But antimatter is apparently – and as yet inexplicably – much scarcer than matter.

In 1933 Dirac shared the Nobel prize in physics with Erwin Schrödinger “for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory”. Dirac died aged 82 in 1984. He’s commemorated in Westminster Abbey by an inscription in the Nave, not far from Newton’s monument. Separated in life by more than two centuries, Paul Dirac and Sir Isaac Newton are arguably the fathers of antimatter and gravity.

The Strangest Man by Graham Farmelo is a fascinating account of Dirac’s life and work.

A guide to positronium

Positronium (Ps) is a hybrid of matter and antimatter. Made of just two particles – an electron and a positron – the atomic structure of Ps is similar to hydrogen. The ultimate aim of our experiments at UCL is to observe deflection of a Ps beam due to gravity, as nobody knows if antimatter falls up or down.

In this post, we outline how we recently managed to guide positronium using a quadrupole. Because the Ps atom doesn’t have a heavy nucleus, it’s extremely light and will typically move very, very quickly (~100 km/s). A refinement of the guiding techniques we used can, in principle, be applied to decelerate Ps atoms to speeds that are more suitable for studying gravity.

Point-of-view of a Ps atom entering a quadrupole guide

Before guiding positronium we have to create some. Positrons emitted from a radioisotope of sodium are trapped in a combination of electric and magnetic fields. They are ejected from the trap and implanted into a thin-film of mesoporous silica, where they bind to electrons to form Ps atoms; the network of tiny pores provides a way for these to get out and into vacuum.

The entire Ps distribution is emitted from the film in a time-window of just a few billionths of a second.  This is well matched to our pulsed lasers, which we use to optically excite the atoms to Rydberg levels (high principal quantum number, n). If we didn’t excite the Ps then the electron-positron pairs would annihilate into gamma-ray photons in much less than a millionth of a second, and each would be unlikely to travel more than a few cm. However, in the excited states self-annihilation is almost completely suppressed and they can, therefore, travel much further.

Each Rydberg level contains many sublevels that have almost the same internal energy. This means that for a given n its sublevels can all be populated using a narrow range of laser wavelengths. But if an electric field is applied the sublevels are shifted. This so-called “Stark shift” comes from the electric dipole moment, i.e., the distribution of electric charge within the atom. The dipole is different for each sublevel and it can either be aligned or anti-aligned to the electric field. This results in a range of both positive and negative energy shifts, broadening the overall spectral line. Tuning the laser wavelength can now be used to select a particular sublevel. Or rather, to select a Rydberg-Stark state with a particular electric dipole moment. Stark broadening is demonstrated in the plot below. [For higher electric fields the individual Stark states can be resolved.]

Stark broadening of n=12 Ps in an electric field.

The Stark effect provides a way to manipulate the motion of neutral atoms using electric fields. As an atom moves between regions of different electric field strength its internal energy will shift according to its electric dipole moment. However, because the total energy must be conserved the kinetic energy will also change. Depending on whether the atom experiences a positive or negative Stark shift, increasing fields will either slow it down or speed it up. The Rydberg-Stark states can ,therefore, be broadly grouped as either low-field-seeking (LFS) or high-field-seeking (HFS). The force exerted by the electric field is much smaller than would be experienced by a charged particle. Nevertheless, this effect has been demonstrated as a useful tool for deflecting, guiding, decelerating, and trapping Rydberg atoms and polar molecules.

Rydberg positronium source, lasers, gamma-ray detectors, and quadrupole guide.

A quadrupole is a device made from a square array of parallel rods.  Positive voltage is applied to one diagonal pair and negative to the other. This creates an electric field that is zero along the centre but which is very large directly between neighbouring rods. The effect this has on atoms in LFS states is that when they drift away from the middle into the high fields they slow down, and eventually turn around and head back towards the centre, i.e., they are guided. On the other hand, atoms in HFS states are steered away from the low-field region and out to the side of the quadrupole.

Electric field strength and trajectory calculation for low-field-seeking (blue),  high-field-seeking (red), and unaffected (green) Rydberg-Stark states of positronium in a quadrupole guide.

Using gamma-ray detectors at either end of a 40 cm long quadrupole we measured how many Rydberg Ps atoms entered and how many were transported through it. With the guide switched off some atoms from all states were transmitted. However, with the voltages switched on there was a five-fold increase in the number of low-field-seeking atoms getting through, whereas the high-field-seeking atoms could no longer pass at all.

The number of Rydberg Ps atoms entering (red) and passing all the way through (blue) the quadrupole guide.

A large part of why we chose to use positronium for our gravity studies is that it’s electrically neutral. As the electromagnetic force is so much stronger than gravity we, therefore, avoid otherwise overwhelming effects from stray electric fields. However, by exciting Ps to Rydberg-Stark states with large electric dipole moments we reintroduce the same problem. Nonetheless, it should be possible to exploit the LFS states to decelerate the atoms to low speeds, and then we can use microwaves to drive them to states with zero dipole moment. This will give us a cold Rydberg Ps distribution that is insensitive to electric fields and which can be used for gravitational deflection measurements.

Our article “Electrostatically guided Rydberg positronium” has been published in Physical Review Letters.

14th International Workshop on Slow Positron Beam Techniques & Applications

Members of the UCL positronium laser spectroscopy group recently attended the 14th International Workshop on Slow Positron Beam Techniques & Applications (SLOPOS14) in Matsue, Japan. The conference took place from the 22nd to the 27th of May 2016.  During this time we heard many great talks from groups working with positrons and positronium (Ps) from all over the world.

We also presented some of our work, including Rydberg-Stark states of Ps (PRL. 115, 173001), laser-enhanced time-of-flight spectroscopy (NJP. 17, 043059), Ps production in cryogenic environments (PRB 93, 125305), controlling annihilation of excited-state Ps (PRL115, 183401 & PRA93, 012506), and improved SSPALS measurements with LYSO scintillators (NIM. A,  828, 163). The talk “Controlling Annihilation Dynamics of n = 2
Positronium with Electric Fields”, given by Alberto. M. Alonso (PhD student), was awarded a prize for making an outstanding contribution to the conference!

SLOPOS14 was a great opportunity to meet fellow physicists working in our field, to learn of their progress and to share our own.  These meetings are important for discussing new results and new ideas, and for building collaborations for future work. We are extremely grateful to the organisers for their hard work in hosting the event.


We look forward to the next SLOPOS, which will be held in Romania in 2019


Antimatter annihilation, gamma rays, and Lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate




P. A. M. Dirac (1931) 



 E = m c2,





Encased sodium iodide crystal 



PMT output for individual gamma-ray  detection with NaI




An array of LYSO crystals



SSPALS with LYSO and PbWO4

This post is based on our recent article:


How long does Rydberg positronium live?

Time-of-flight (TOF) is a simple but powerful technique that consists of accurately measuring the time it takes a particle/ atom/ ion/ molecule/ neutrino/ etc. to travel a known distance.  This valuable tool has been used to characterise the kinetic energy distributions of an exhaustive range of sources, including positronium (Ps) [e.g. Howell et al, 1987], and is exploited widely in ion mass spectrometry.

Last year we published an article in which we described TOF measurements of ground-state (n=1) Ps atoms that were produced by implanting a short (5 ns) pulse of positrons into a porous silica film.  Using pulsed lasers to photoionise (tear apart) the atoms at a range of well-defined positions, we were able to estimate the Ps velocity distribution, finding mean speeds on the order of 100 km/s. Extrapolating the measured flight paths back to the film’s surface indicated that the Ps took on average between 1 and 10 ns to escape the pores, depending on the depth to which the positrons were initially implanted.

When in the ground state and isolated in vacuum the electron and positron that make up a positronium atom will tend to annihilate each another in around 140 ns.  Even with a speed of 100 km/s this means that Ps is unlikely to travel further than a couple of cm during its brief existence.  Consequently,  the photoionisation/ TOF measurements mentioned above were made within 6 mm of the silica film. However, instead of ionising the atoms, our lasers can be reconfigured to excite Ps to high-n Rydberg levels, and these typically live for a great deal longer.   The increase in lifetime allows us to measure TOF spectra over much longer timescales (~10 µs) and distances (1.2 m).


The image above depicts the layout of our TOF apparatus.  Positrons from a Surko trap are guided by magnets to the silica film, wherein they bind to electrons and are remitted as Ps.  Immediately after, ultraviolet and infra-red pulsed lasers drive the atoms to n=2 and then to Rydberg states.  Unlike the positively charged positrons, the neutral Ps atoms are not deflected by the curved magnetic fields and are able to travel straight along the 1.2 m flight tube, eventually crashing into the end of the vacuum chamber.  The annihilation gamma rays are there detected using an NaI scintillator and photomultipler tube (PMT), and the time delay between Ps production and gamma ray detection is digitally recorded.



The plots above show two different views of time-of-flight spectra accumulated with the infra-red laser tuned to address Rydberg levels in the range of n=10 to 20.  The data shows that more Ps are detected at later times for the higher-n states than for lower-n states.  This is easily explained by fluorescence, i.e., the decay of an excited-state atom via spontaneous emission of a photon.  As the fluorescence lifetime increases with n, the lower-n states are more likely to decay to the ground state and then annihilate before reaching the end of the chamber, reducing the number of gamma rays seen by the NaI detector at later times. We estimate from this data that Ps atoms in n=10 fluoresce in about 3 µs, compared to roughly 30 µs for n=20.

This work brings us an important step closer to performing a positronium free-fall measurement.  A flight path of at least ten meters will probably be required to observe gravitational deflection, so we still have some way to go.

This post is based on work discussed in our article:

Measurement of Rydberg positronium fluorescence lifetimes. A. Deller, A. M. Alonso, B. S. Cooper, S. D. Hogan, and D. B. Cassidy. Phys. Rev. A 93, 062513  (2016)DOI:10.1103/PhysRevA.93.062513.

UCL positronium spectroscopy beamline (the first two years)

The UCL Ps spectroscopy positron beamline began producing low-energy positrons almost two years ago, and it has since become slightly longer and somewhat more sophisticated. Though it’s not the most complex scientific machine in the world (compared to, e.g., the LHC) we still find regular use for a 3D depiction of it.  Our model is essentially a cartoon. Typically we use it to create (fairly) accurate schematics that help us to convey the configuration of our equipment at conferences or in publications.


The snap shot above shows the three main components of the beamline, namely the positron source (left), Surko trap (centre, cross-section), and Ps laser-spectroscopy region (right).  The 3D model is built from simplified forms of the various vacuum chambers and pumps, magnetic coils, and detectors.  And it shows where these all are in relation to one another.  The 45° angled line is being used right now for Rydberg Ps time-of-flight measurements.  The source and trap are based on the design developed by Rod Greaves and Jeremey Moxom of First Point Scientific Inc. (unfortunately now defunct).  You can read about the details of their design in this article.

To allow you to take a closer look we have created a 3D pdf file that you can download here * (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License). Be aware we use this for illustration/ communication purposes and it is not an accurate technical model. Nonetheless, using this you can pan, zoom, and rotate around our virtual lab to your heart’s content! No need for 3D glasses, though you will need a recent copy of Adobe reader,  (the interactive features probably won’t work in your web browser).

*MD5 checksum c6028573596c9511d9ba0450cd2caa05

And here’s how the lab looks in real life,





Photoemission of Ps from single-crystal p-Ge semiconductors







phototime web










Rydberg Positronium Special Report, ICPEAC 2015

One of the conferences that we attended during the summer (ICPEAC 2015) had the necessary set-up to film one of our talks about our recent Rydberg paper, this was summarised on a published IOP abstract.

You can watch our talk along with the rest of the lectures on ICPEAC’s youtube channel: