Velocity selection of Rydberg positronium using a curved electrostatic guide

We report experiments in which a slow Rydberg positronium (Ps) beam was produced by velocity selection using a curved electrostatic quadrupole guide. Ps atoms in Rydberg-Stark states with principal quantum number n = 14 were prepared by a two-color optical excitation process in a uniform electric field. Low-field-seeking Stark states were produced at the entrance of a 0.6-m-long quadrupole guide that includes a 45◦ bend, and were detected at the end of the guide via their annihilation γ radiation. The mean speed (kinetic energy) of atoms entering the guide was estimated to be ≈180 km s−1 (185 meV), whereas the mean longitudinal speed of guided atoms was measured via time of flight and found to be ≈90 km s−1, equivalent to a kinetic energy of 45 meV. The measured transport data are in broad agreement with Monte Carlo simulations, which are also used to establish the efficacy with which the arrangement we describe could be used to perform Ps-atom scattering measurements