A PORTABLE ELECTRON COOLED ANTIPROTON STORAGE RING

ANTIMATTER CONTAINS THE HIGHEST RATIO OF ENERGY STORAGE PER UNIT MASS OF ANY SUBSTANCE KNOWN TO MAN. WHEN ANTIMATTER COMES INTO CONTACT WITH NORMAL MATTER IT COMPLETELY ANNIHILATES, WITH ITS MASS CONVERTED INTO ENERGY ACCORDING TO THE FORMULA E=MC2. THE ENERGY RELEASED IN THE ANNIHILATION MAY PROVE USEFUL AS A FUTURE SOURCE OF POWER FOR APPLICATIONS REQUIRING HIGH POWER DENSITY FUEL SOURCES, SUCH AS SPACE PROPULSION. NEAR TERM APPLICATIONS OF ANTIMATTER INCLUDE MATERIAL DIAGNOSIS AND TESTS OF FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS. AT PRESENT THE HADRONIC FORM OF ANTIMATTER ONLY EXISTS AT MAJOR HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS LABORATORIES. IN ORDER TO MAKE EXPERIMENTATION WITH ANTIMATTER MORE AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL USER COMMUNITY, A SMALL TRANSPORTABLE SOURCE OF ANTIPROTONS IS REQUIRED. WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE DESIGN OF SUCH A PORTABLE SOURCE. WE WILL DO A COMPLETE BEAM OPTICS STUDY THAT WILL RESULT IN SPECIFICATIONS FOR ALL OF THE COMPONENTS OF THE RING. THE PHASE I STUDY WILL DETERMINE WHICH COMPONENTS CAN BE CONSTRUCTED AND TESTED DURING PHASE II, WITH THE AIM OF COMPLETE DEVICE CONSTRUCTION DURING PHASE II.