Control Systems for Quantum Optics

The second project (which began at the end of 2020) is porting experiment control systems currently being developed in the field of quantum optics to experimental investigations of possible symmetry violations in neutral atomic systems containing antimatter: antihydrogen, antiprotonic atoms and positronium. The first two systems are only available at CERN's Antihydrogen Decelerator facility, whereas positronium can be obtained from radioactive sources even in small laboratories. For all three systems studies are ongoing or being prepared, benefiting from anti-hydrogen pulsed formation (2018) and long-lived positronium in Rydberg states (2015) and 23S metastable states (2019). Investigations with pulsed beams of positronium atoms of possible additional interactions, as well as possibly of 3-photon correlations in Ps decays, both using a novel approach (stemming from the field of atomic and molecular optics) for experiment control and data acquisition (Sinara), form the main thrust of the PhD project.