Congratulations are in order for four members of Swansea University’s Physics Department. Professor Mike Charlton, Dr Niels Madsen, Dr Dirk van der Werf and Dr William Bertsche are winners of the 2011 John Dawson Award, which recognises outstanding achievement in plasma physics research.
The Swansea academics have been selected for the award which celebrates their collaborative research with the ALPHA (Anti-hydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus) team based at CERN in Geneva. Their efforts have resulted in the groundbreaking success of trapping antimatter atoms for over 16 minutes. The team have created, trapped, and stored antihydrogen atoms long enough to begin to study them in detail. It is the longest time period that antihydrogen has been captured, and a significant development on the experiment’s major advance last November, when atoms of antimatter were trapped for the first time. The research into antihydrogen is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and funding from the Leverhulme Trust.
Professor Mike Charlton said: “Our aim is to study antihydrogen, and make detailed comparisons with ordinary hydrogen. Whilst hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe, it seems that antihydrogen has only ever been formed in our experiments here on Earth.
“Why there was no antimatter left when the Universe became cold enough for atoms to form remains a great mystery – and one we hope to shed some light upon.”
“This latest development is a huge step towards measurements on antihydrogen and we are planning first experiments for later in the year,” said Swansea University physicist Dr Niels Madsen. “We have increased the efficiency with which we trap the antihydrogen atoms and held onto some of them for long periods, already increasing our capability several thousand times over what we reported last November.”
Profsessor Steve Wilks, Head of the College of Science at Swansea University and proud of the achievements of the research team said “This is fantastic news for the Physics Department in the College of Science and a well deserved accolade for a world leading research group, their work is pushing forward a new frontier in Physics.”
The John Dawson Award (previously named the Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics) was established in 1981 with support from friends of the Division of Plasma Physics. It has recently benefited from a joint campaign with UCLA and friends and family of John Dawson.
The award consists of $5,000 to be divided equally between winners and includes a certificate citing the research contributions made. It will be presented at an award ceremony at the Division of Plasma Physics Annual Meeting Banquet.
