Plasma manipulation techniques for positron storage in a multicell trap

New plasma manipulation techniques are described that are central to the development of a multicell Penning trap designed to increase positron storage by orders of magnitude (e.g., to particle numbers $N⩾{10}^{12}$ ). The experiments are done using test electron plasmas. A technique is described to move plasmas across the confining magnetic field and to deposit them at specific radial and azimuthal positions. Techniques to fill and operate two in-line plasma cells simultaneously, and the use of $1\mathrm{kV}$ confinement potentials are demonstrated. These experiments establish the capabilities to create, confine, and manipulate plasmas with the parameters required for a multicell trap; namely, particle numbers $>{10}^{10}$ in a single cell with plasma temperature $⩽0.2\mathrm{eV}$ for plasma lengths $\sim 10\mathrm{cm}$ and radii $⩽0.2\mathrm{cm}$ . The updated design of a multicell positron trap for ${10}^{12}$ particles is described.