Science · 2026-10-25 · Afternoon briefing
US physicists trap antimatter, boosting measurement precision 30-fold
Physicists at Northwestern University have successfully trapped a single antimatter particle for months, cooling it to temperatures near absolute zero to precisely control its quantum states. The experiment, published in Physical Review Letters and led by Gerald Gabrielse, used a device known as a single-positron quantum cyclotron to suspend the particle in a vacuum using only electric and magnetic fields.
The ability to manipulate the positron without physical contact yields a dramatic increase in precision. According to the American Physical Society, the technique enables measurements of antimatter that are about 30 times more precise than what was previously achievable, a crucial step towards resolving fundamental questions about the universe's composition.
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- Physicists trap a single antimatter particle for a month
- Physicists trapped a single antimatter particle for months. Now comes the hard part
- Physicists control one antimatter particle, opening a path to a sharper test of nature
- Physicists Create First-Ever Antimatter Qubit, Making the Quantum World Even Weirder
- Why physicists drove a trap full of antimatter through traffic on a truck
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