UC Riverside

A brief history of positron sciences in atomic, molecular, and optical, and condensed matter physics is presented. A short description of a pulsed positron beam-line using a 50 mCi Sodium-22 source as the positron supply follows. Three different positron/positronium (Ps) beam manipulation devices are described in detail: a magnetic swtich-yard that effectively guides positron pulses to one of three experiments on demand; a high voltage buncher-accelerator that extracts positrons from a magnetic field with reduced effects from non-adiabatic impulses upon the low field transition; and the world's first achromatic electrostatic mirror for reflecting and focusing Rydberg atoms. A detector for positronium temperature measurements by two-photon angular correlation annihilation radiation, and a resistive-anode based position sensitive Rydberg atom detector, are discussed at length with experimental data and results shown. A high performance positron high vacuum accumulator is described along with a procedure necessary to retain "strong-drive'' coupling of the positron plasma with a rotating electric dipole above 100 MHz, ~12.5% of the Brillouin limit. The final chapter describes our achievement of a new record magnetic field free peak areal positron density of about 1.5E11 cm^{-2} and an instantaneous current density of about 6.25 A cm^{-2}, satisfactory conditions for probing Ps-Ps interactions and the production of a highly spin-polarized positron beam useful for creating a Ps Bose-Einstein Condensate.