Frequency Fine-tuning of a Spin-flip Cavity for Antihydrogen Atoms

As part of the ASACUSA (Atomic Spectroscopy And Collisions Using Slow Antiprotons) physics program a spin-flip cavity, for measurements of the ground-state hyperfine transition frequency of antihydrogen atoms, is needed. The purpose of the cavity is to excite antihydrogen atoms depending on their polarisation by a microwave field operating at 1.42 GHz. The delicacy of designing such a cavity lies in achieving and maintaining the required properties of this field over a large aperture of 10 cm and for a long period of time (required amplitude stability is 1% over 12 h). This paper presents the frequency fine tuning techniques developed to obtain the desired centre frequency of 1.42GHz with a Q value below 500 as well as the circuit used for the frequency sweep over a bandwidth of 6MHz.