A “suitcase” for antimatter: Constructing a transportable antiproton Penning trap

One of the fundamental unanswered questions in modern physics is why the universe contains dominantly matter over antimatter. Our group, as a part of the BASE collaboration, wants to search for a possible CPT violation by comparing the magnetic moment of both, protons and antiprotons. We would like to perform these measurements on the low energy antiprotons produced in the Antiproton-Decelerator (AD) at CERN. However, the fluctuations in the magnetic field inside the AD-hall pose a hurdle to attain higher levels of precision measurements. To overcome these limitations, we are currently developing the transportable antiproton Penning trap – STEP (Symmetry Tests in Experiments with Portable Antiprotons) – which can store the antiprotons delivered by the AD/ELENA facility, which can then be transported to a magnetically stable environment where enhanced precision tests can be performed with the antiprotons. We are developing two different trap setups to transport these ions: one using a transportable superconducting magnet and the other using permanent magnets. My talk will emphasize the principle, design and construction of the permanent magnet setup.