A Cryogenic Penning Trap Based on Permanent Magnets
Abstract
We report on a Penning trap based on NdFeB permanent magnets operated at 4\,K with a magnetic field strength of 280\,mT. Reliable loading and confinement of protons, H2+ ions, and electrons was demonstrated with non-destructive single-particle detection sensitivity of protons and H2+ ions using superconducting image-current circuits. The axial frequency of individual particles reaches a shot-to-shot stability of 47 parts-per-billion comparable to that of state-of-the-art precision Penning-trap experiments. Measurements of the proton modified-cyclotron frequency show a shot-to-shot scatter of $0.14$ parts per million (p.p.m.), presently limited by millikelvin-level temperature fluctuations of the permanent-magnet assembly. We outline a route towards improving this performance by more than an order of magnitude. This development offers broad potential for axial-mode-related precision measurements and cost-efficient Penning-trap experiments, and represents an important step towards compact, scalable, and transportable antiproton-trap systems.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{volksen2026cryogenic,
title = {{A Cryogenic Penning Trap Based on Permanent Magnets}},
author = {F. Völksen and K. K. Anjum and R. P. Czampiel and N. Daehnhardt and S. Gavranovic and J. Hoentges and L. Kürschner and J. D. Regier and D. Schweitzer and 1 and 2 and P. Schöps and A. M. Thomas and S. Wienhues and B. Arndt and T. Imamura and S. Endoh and B. M. Latacz and M. Leonhardt and P. Micke and J. Morgner and D. Natakala and S. Stahl and H. Yildiz and K. Blaum and J. A. Devlin and Y. Matsuda and C. Ospelkaus and W. Quint and A. Soter and J. Walz and C. Smorra and S. Ulmer},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.26858},
eprint = {2609.26858},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26858},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Cryogenic Penning Trap Based on Permanent Magnets
AU - F. Völksen
AU - K. K. Anjum
AU - R. P. Czampiel
AU - N. Daehnhardt
AU - S. Gavranovic
AU - J. Hoentges
AU - L. Kürschner
AU - J. D. Regier
AU - D. Schweitzer
AU - 1
AU - 2
AU - P. Schöps
AU - A. M. Thomas
AU - S. Wienhues
AU - B. Arndt
AU - T. Imamura
AU - S. Endoh
AU - B. M. Latacz
AU - M. Leonhardt
AU - P. Micke
AU - J. Morgner
AU - D. Natakala
AU - S. Stahl
AU - H. Yildiz
AU - K. Blaum
AU - J. A. Devlin
AU - Y. Matsuda
AU - C. Ospelkaus
AU - W. Quint
AU - A. Soter
AU - J. Walz
AU - C. Smorra
AU - S. Ulmer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.26858
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26858
AB - We report on a Penning trap based on NdFeB permanent magnets operated at 4\,K with a magnetic field strength of 280\,mT. Reliable loading and confinement of protons, H_2^+ ions, and electrons was demonstrated with non-destructive single-particle detection sensitivity of protons and H_2^+ ions using superconducting image-current circuits. The axial frequency of individual particles reaches a shot-to-shot stability of 47 parts-per-billion comparable to that of state-of-the-art precision Penning-trap experiments. Measurements of the proton modified-cyclotron frequency show a shot-to-shot scatter of $0.14$ parts per million (p.p.m.), presently limited by millikelvin-level temperature fluctuations of the permanent-magnet assembly. We outline a route towards improving this performance by more than an order of magnitude. This development offers broad potential for axial-mode-related precision measurements and cost-efficient Penning-trap experiments, and represents an important step towards compact, scalable, and transportable antiproton-trap systems.
ER -