A device that produces a fountain of caesium atoms could boost understanding of the Universe by measuring the frequency of light absorbed by antimatter.
Built in the UK with support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), it has now been installed at the iconic CERN facility to support the pioneering Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus (ALPHA) antimatter experiment.
The caesium fountain will help ALPHA determine the frequency of light absorbed by antihydrogen (hydrogen’s antimatter counterpart) with the same accuracy as has already been achieved for hydrogen. This is vital to understanding the extent of the symmetry between matter and antimatter, a big question at the heart of how the Universe works.
The caesium fountain was designed and built at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s national metrology institute in Teddington, Middlesex.
