Plasma and trap-based techniques for science with positrons

In recent years, there has been a wealth of new science involving low-energy antimatter (i.e., positrons and antiprotons) at energies ranging from ${10}^{2}$ to less than ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$. Much of this progress has been driven by the development of new plasma-based techniques to accumulate, manipulate, and deliver antiparticles for specific applications. This article focuses on the advances made in this area using positrons. However, many of the resulting techniques are relevant to antiprotons as well. An overview is presented of relevant theory of single-component plasmas in electromagnetic traps. Methods are described to produce intense sources of positrons and to efficiently slow the typically energetic particles thus produced. Techniques are described to trap positrons efficiently and to cool and compress the resulting positron gases and plasmas. Finally, the procedures developed to deliver tailored pulses and beams (e.g., in intense, short bursts, or as quasimonoenergetic continuous beams) for specific applications are reviewed. The status of development in specific application areas is also reviewed. One example is the formation of antihydrogen atoms for fundamental physics [e.g., tests of invariance under charge conjugation, parity inversion, and time reversal (the CPT theorem), and studies of the interaction of gravity with antimatter]. Other applications discussed include atomic and materials physics studies and the study of the electron-positron many-body system, including both classical electron-positron plasmas and the complementary quantum system in the form of Bose-condensed gases of positronium atoms. Areas of future promise are also discussed. The review concludes with a brief summary and a list of outstanding challenges.