How do Penning antimatter traps work?

Question

Could several Tesla induction magnetic coils work for trapping the antimatter

Answer 1

Well, you probably know that antimatter will annihilate if it comes into contact with matter.  So to trap it, you need to trap it in a trap where it can not come into contact with matter.  Fortunately, positrons and many other forms of antimatter are charged, so they can be manipulated using electric and magnetic fields.

A Penning trap works by using magnetic and electric fields to produce a trapping potential.  As you may know, a charged particle in a magnetic field will spin around in circles.  So if you simply apply a uniform magnetic field in the z-direction to a charged particle, the particle can not escape in the x or y directions, as all it will do is make big circular trajectories (the radius depends on the speed and the magnitude of the field). However, there is nothing to keep the particle from escaping along the z-direction, as the trajectories will actually be big spirals that can eventually lead out of the trap in the z direction.  But now, put an electrode above and below the particle and put an electric potential with the same sign as the particle (so a positive potential, like 5V, for a positron, or -5V for an electron).  Now the particle will want to stay away from the electrodes, so it will sit right between them in the vertical direction.  Therefore, the B-field, in conjunction with the E-field, will cause 3 dimensional trapping of the particle.  And yes, magnetic coils can be used to trap antimatter.  But a normal coil will have a strong field at the center and a weaker field at near the coil, which is not ideal.  You would want it to be the other way around.

The trapping ability of Penning traps has nothing to do with the fact that it's antimatter, as they work just as well on regular matter that has a charge.