If the concept proves successful, Lynn, professor in the WSU Departments of Physics and Mechanical & Materials Engineering and director of the Center for Materials Research, and Weber, staff scientist in the WSU Department of Physics, see it leading to large-scale production of antimatter fuel capable of powering deep space travel, as well as a host of other, more earthbound, applications.

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Just 0.3 milligrams of antimatter – the size of two grains of sand – packs the same energy potential as about 1, 700 tons of liquid hydrogen-oxygen fuel currently used to power the space shuttle.  The trap design could be scaled to a size large enough to power space ships, for example, which would use the gamma rays to propel them along. With only two milligrams of antimatter and a ten pound trap, Lynn speculates that astronauts would be able to fly into deep space.