Field-Induced Electron-Ion Recombination: A Novel Route towards Neutral (Anti-)matter

We present a novel approach to the preparation of neutral (anti-)matter. The scheme is based on recombination of a free electron and an ion, and can be considered as the inverse of pulsed field ionization. We have obtained promising results on rubidium: at low densities already efficiencies of $0.3\%$ were obtained. This is orders of magnitude more than has been achieved in previous recombination studies.