We report results from a novel diagnostic that probes the outer radial profile of trapped antiproton clouds. The diagnostic allows us to determine the profile by monitoring the time history of antiproton losses that occur as an octupole field in the antiproton confinement region is increased. We show several examples of how this diagnostic helps us to understand the radial dynamics of antiprotons in normal and nested Penning–Malmberg traps. Better understanding of these dynamics may aid current attempts to trap antihydrogen atoms.
REFERENCES
Depending on the density and temperature, the cloud may be in the single-particle regime, the plasma regime, or in between the two. We will refer to it as a cloud throughout this paper.
Since the magnetic field is strong , the ’s are, apart from a slow rotation around the trap axis, tightly bound to the field lines.