For the first time, an international collaboration of researchers has claimed to have successfully demonstrated the laser cooling of Positronium, a short-lived hydrogen-like atom that provides an ideal testing ground for bound-state quantum electrodynamics.

The Antihydrogen Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEgIS) collaboration has performed complex experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to obtain this breakthrough, said the Indian Science and Technology Department today.

The results could pave the way for taking up advanced studies leading to an improved understanding of the physical nature, comprising matter and antimatter facilitated through the interactions between light and charged matter.

Positronium is a fundamental atom that comprises an electron (e-) and a positron (e+). Electrons and positrons are leptons and they interact through electromagnetic and weak forces.

A usual atom is made up of a mixture of baryons and leptons. Since Positronium is only made up of electrons and positrons, and no usual nuclear matter, it has the unique distinction of being a purely leptonic atom.

Sadiq Rangwala, Professor, Light and Matter Group at Raman Research Institute (RRI), an autonomous institute of the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST), is a part of the AEgIS collaboration that comprises physicists from 19 European groups and one Indian group.

Professor Rangwala is leading the Indian effort in the AEgIS collaboration with key contributions in various areas including the design of diagnostics for laser beam alignment deployed in the laser setup at the CERN accelerator.