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Abstract The positron, the antiparticle of the electron, predicted by Dirac in 1931 and discovered by Anderson in 1933, plays a key role in many scientific and everyday endeavours. Notably, the positron is a constituent of antihydrogen, the only long-lived neutral antimatter bound state that can currently be synthesized at low energy, presenting a prominent system for testing fundamental symmetries with high precision. Here, we report on the use of laser cooled Be + ions to sympathetically cool a large and dense plasma of positrons to directly measured temperatures below 7 K in a Penning trap for antihydrogen synthesis. This willmore »likely herald a significant increase in the amount of antihydrogen available for experimentation, thus facilitating further improvements in studies of fundamental symmetries.« less

Abstract. Underwater photogrammetry is a well-established technique for measuring and modelling the subaquatic environment in fields ranging from archaeology to marine ecology. While for simple tasks the acquisition and processing of images have become straightforward, applications requiring relative accuracy better then 1:1000 are still considered challenging. This study focuses on the metric evaluation of different off-the-shelf camera systems for making high resolution and high accuracy measurements of coral reefs monitoring through time, where the variations to be measured are in the range of a few centimeters per year. High quality and low-cost systems (reflex and mirrorless vs action cameras, i.e.more »GoPro) with multiple lenses (prime and zoom), different fields of views (from fisheye to moderate wide angle), pressure housing materials and lens ports (dome and flat) are compared. Tests are repeated at different camera to object distances to investigate distance dependent induced errors and assess the accuracy of the photogrammetrically derived models. An extensive statistical analysis of the different systems is performed and comparisons against reference control point measured through a high precision underwater geodetic network are reported.

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Abstract The photon—the quantum excitation of the electromagnetic field—is massless but carries momentum. A photon can therefore exert a force on an object upon collision 1 . Slowing the translational motion of atoms and ions by application of such a force 2,3 , known as laser cooling, was first demonstrated 40 years ago 4,5 . It revolutionized atomic physics over the following decades 6–8 , and it is now a workhorse in many fields, including studies on quantum degenerate gases, quantum information, atomic clocks and tests of fundamental physics. However, this technique has not yet been applied to antimatter. Heremore »we demonstrate laser cooling of antihydrogen 9 , the antimatter atom consisting of an antiproton and a positron. By exciting the 1S–2P transition in antihydrogen with pulsed, narrow-linewidth, Lyman-α laser radiation 10,11 , we Doppler-cool a sample of magnetically trapped antihydrogen. Although we apply laser cooling in only one dimension, the trap couples the longitudinal and transverse motions of the anti-atoms, leading to cooling in all three dimensions. We observe a reduction in the median transverse energy by more than an order of magnitude—with a substantial fraction of the anti-atoms attaining submicroelectronvolt transverse kinetic energies. We also report the observation of the laser-driven 1S–2S transition in samples of laser-cooled antihydrogen atoms. The observed spectral line is approximately four times narrower than that obtained without laser cooling. The demonstration of laser cooling and its immediate application has far-reaching implications for antimatter studies. A more localized, denser and colder sample of antihydrogen will drastically improve spectroscopic 11–13 and gravitational 14 studies of antihydrogen in ongoing experiments. Furthermore, the demonstrated ability to manipulate the motion of antimatter atoms by laser light will potentially provide ground-breaking opportunities for future experiments, such as anti-atomic fountains, anti-atom interferometry and the creation of antimatter molecules.« less

The evolution of underwater photogrammetry allows to realize 3D models of submerged object and structures throughout the use of rapid and efficient procedures either in terms of data acquisition and data processing. These procedures are based on solutions that are applied using natural control points, signalized markers and tie points; the most common algorithms are based on Structure from Motion (SfM) approach. The limit of these applications is sometimes due to the final accuracy, especially when the goal is a centimeter level of accuracy. This accuracy should be necessary when dealing with a survey devoted to deformation control purposes. Anmore »example is the underwater photogrammetry for the determination of coral growth; it is effectively a movement or a deformation detection issue where the geometric change is almost at centimeter or few centimeters accuracy level. When dealing with deformation control applications, a geodetic network is essential to realize a stable and unambiguous reference frame through the accurate and permanent installation of Ground Control Points (GCPs). Such a network, indeed, permits a robust reference frame for the georeferencing of images blocks in the different époques of data acquisition. Therefore, the comparison among subsequent photogrammetric restitutions is based on homogeneous 3D models that have been oriented in the same absolute reference system. The photogrammetric survey is based on a methodological approach especially adapted to underwater biometry (like coral growth determination) and to underwater archaeology. The approach is suitable both for modeling objects of relatively reduced dimensions and for structures with a length of ten meters or more, such as coral barriers, wrecks and long walls. The paper describes underwater photogrammetric surveys on sites at different extensions, the geodetic GCPs reference network installation and measurements (distance and elevation difference observations) as well as preliminary results of the network adjustment. A brief description of image acquisition at a different scales and the resulting 3D model of first campaign are also shown.« less

At the historic Shelter Island Conference on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics in 1947, Willis Lamb reported an unexpected feature in the fine structure of atomic hydrogen: a separation of the 2S1/2 and 2P1/2 states1. The observation of this separation, now known as the Lamb shift, marked an important event in the evolution of modern physics, inspiring others to develop the theory of quantum electrodynamics2–5. Quantum electrodynamics also describes antimatter, but it has only recently become possible to synthesize and trap atomic antimatter to probe its structure. Mirroring the historical development of quantum atomic physics in the twentieth century, modernmore »measurements on anti-atoms represent a unique approach for testing quantum electrodynamics and the foundational symmetries of the standard model. Here we report measurements of the fine structure in the n = 2 states of antihydrogen, the antimatter counterpart of the hydrogen atom. Using optical excitation of the 1S–2P Lyman-α transitions in antihydrogen6, we determine their frequencies in a magnetic field of 1 tesla to a precision of 16 parts per billion. Assuming the standard Zeeman and hyperfine interactions, we infer the zero-field fine-structure splitting (2P1/2–2P3/2) in antihydrogen. The resulting value is consistent with the predictions of quantum electrodynamics to a precision of 2 per cent. Using our previously measured value of the 1S–2S transition frequency6,7, we find that the classic Lamb shift in antihydrogen (2S1/2–2P1/2 splitting at zero field) is consistent with theory at a level of 11 per cent. Our observations represent an important step towards precision measurements of the fine structure and the Lamb shift in the antihydrogen spectrum as tests of the charge– parity–time symmetry8 and towards the determination of other fundamental quantities, such as the antiproton charge radius9,10, in this antimatter system.« less