Interference of the whispering gallery states of antihydrogen

A. Yu. Voronin (1) , V. V Nesvizhevsky (2) , S. Reynaud (3)

1 LPI RAS - P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences [Moscow]
2 ILL - Institut Laue-Langevin
3 LKB (Jussieu) - Laboratoire Kastler Brossel

We theoretically study the interference of the long-living quasi-stationary quantum states of antihydrogen atoms, localized near a concave material surface. Such states are an antimatter analogue of the whispering gallery states of neutrons and matter atoms, and similar to the whispering gallery modes of sound and electro-magnetic waves. Quantum states of antihydrogen are formed by the combined effect of quantum reflection from the van der Waals/Casimir-Polder (vdW/CP) potential of the surface and the centrifugal potential. We point out a method for precision studies of quantum reflection of anti-atoms from vdW/CP potential; this method uses the interference of the whispering gallery states of antihydrogen.

Domaines: Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

A. Yu. Voronin, V. V Nesvizhevsky, S. Reynaud. Interference of the whispering gallery states of antihydrogen. Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 2012, 45, pp.165007. ⟨10.1088/0953-4075/45/16/165007⟩. ⟨hal-00725527⟩