| Antihydrogen, the bound state of an antiproton and positron, is a unique system that provides the opportunity for precise tests of matter-antimatter symmetry and CPT invariance. Confining antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic trap, first proposed over twenty years ago, is the most promising route to realizing precision comparisons of hydrogen and antihydrogen via laser spectroscopy. While a recent demonstration of small numbers of trapped atoms confirms the feasibility of this method, more trapped atoms will be required for precision spectroscopy of antihydrogen. This thesis reports three advances toward this goal. First, a field-boosting solenoid and rotating-wall technique allow the loading of up to 10 million antiprotons in a Penning-Ioffe trap for antihydrogen production experiments. Second, adiabatic cooling reduces the temperature of up to 3 million antiprotons to 3.5 K, the coldest antiproton temperature yet measured. Finally, a new apparatus produces antihydrogen by two-stage charge exchange. The production of 3600 +/- 600 antihydrogen atoms per trial by this method is indicated, a factor of 200 increase over a previous proof-of-principle demonstration. Antihydrogen produced by charge-exchange should have the temperature of the antiprotons from which it forms, which could aid in the quest to trap sufficient numbers of atoms for precise comparisons of hydrogen and antihydrogen. |
