FROM THE SCIENCE TIMES...
In a new study (Laser cooling of antihydrogen atoms), scientists suppressed thermal jitters of antihydrogen atoms, freezing the antiatoms to near absolute zero. This way of slowing down antimatter, or normal matter's counterpart that is oppositely charged, could guide scientists in creating the very first antimatter molecules. Repressing wayward antimatter using lasers may also help physicists to precisely gauge the antiatoms' properties, researchers said in the report.
Antimatter is not often encountered as normal matter, since the two destroy each other upon contact, researchers said, and as such is difficult to keep and investigate.
The technique allowed the scientists to cool the antimatter to just one-twentieth of a degree above absolute zero, which is 3,000 times colder than the coldest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica.
A comparison of antiatoms and normal atoms could examine and validate the universe's essential symmetries and biggest secrets, such as how gravity affects antimatter.
Scientists have chilled the atoms by decelerating their speed using a barrage of light particles or photons. Such cooling of antimatter using lasers has been difficult since making antimatter is challenging, researchers said.
To make these antihydrogen atoms, the physicists combined antiprotons with positrons, which are the antiparticles of electrons. After several hours, the laser beam that is tuned to a specific UV light frequency decelerated the antihydrogen atoms from a speed of 90 meters per second to just about 10 meters per second. READ MORE
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