Cavity cooling of leptons for increased antihydrogen production at ALPHA

Precise spectroscopic measurements of anti-hydrogen at the ALPHA experiment are hindered by small numbers of cold anti-atoms. This thesis describes a cooling technique for positron plasmas which can be used to increase the number of trappable anti-hydrogen atoms. The technique builds on previous work which allows control of spontaneous emission via the Purcell Effect. Our implementation incorporates a novel microwave resonator into an existing Penning trap to enhance spontaneous emission. Preliminary data suggests that temperatures and cooling rates for these plasmas can be improved by at least a factor of 10. Eventually this work could result in an order of magnitude increase in anti-hydrogen production at ALPHA.Science, Faculty ofPhysics and Astronomy, Department ofGraduat