The clouds of “ultracold” atoms reach just a fraction of a degree above -273°C: absolute zero. They are being produced daily in the CAL, an experimental facility launched from the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, in May 2018. The extreme conditions are created in the microgravity of the ISS. This could allow for the formation of Bose-Einstein Condensates (a state of matter) a magnitude colder than is possible on Earth.

Under these unnaturally cold conditions, five teams of scientists will explore mysterious phenomena within the realm of quantum mechanics. At typical room temperatures, atoms whizz around energetically, but they slow down as temperatures fall; in theory, they fall to a complete standstill at absolute zero. At these ultracold temperatures, atoms are approximately 200,000 times slower than atoms at room temperature, opening up new experimental possibilities. When ultracold atoms are produced on Earth, the atoms are quickly pulled towards the ground by the Earth’s gravity and limiting observations; a microgravity environment allows for far longer observations.

Three sets of experiments are already in process which could help determine how the most fundamental laws of physics work. The fully enclosed facilities are being operated remotely from Earth.

“With CAL, we’re starting to get a really thorough understanding of how the atoms behave in microgravity, how to manipulate them, how the system is different than the ones we use on Earth,” said Dr Rob Thompson, mission scientist for CAL. “This is all knowledge that is going to build a foundation for what I hope is a long future of cold atom science in space.”

The CAL scientists created the ultracold atom clouds using lasers to begin to slow atoms down, using radio waves to “cut away” the most energetic atoms, and then slowly releasing the atoms from a magnetic trap to lower pressure and temperature. These processes allow for the cloud of atoms to reach temperatures of approximately one ten-billionth of a degree above absolute zero.

Designing and launching the laboratory was a considerable technical challenge, in part due to the size of the equipment typically required to produce ultracold atom clouds, and due to the necessity to fly extremely tightly sealed instruments to the space station without the leaking of any stray atoms.

“Several parts of the system required redesigning, and some parts broke in ways we’d never seen before,” said Robert Shotwell, CAL project manager. “The facility had to be completely torn apart and reassembled three times.”

The clouds of “ultracold” atoms reach just a fraction of a degree above -273°C: absolute zero. They are being produced daily in the CAL, an experimental facility launched from the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, in May 2018. The extreme conditions are created in the microgravity of the ISS. This could allow for the formation of Bose-Einstein Condensates (a state of matter) a magnitude colder than is possible on Earth.

Under these unnaturally cold conditions, five teams of scientists will explore mysterious phenomena within the realm of quantum mechanics. At typical room temperatures, atoms whizz around energetically, but they slow down as temperatures fall; in theory, they fall to a complete standstill at absolute zero. At these ultracold temperatures, atoms are approximately 200,000 times slower than atoms at room temperature, opening up new experimental possibilities. When ultracold atoms are produced on Earth, the atoms are quickly pulled towards the ground by the Earth’s gravity and limiting observations; a microgravity environment allows for far longer observations.

Three sets of experiments are already in process which could help determine how the most fundamental laws of physics work. The fully enclosed facilities are being operated remotely from Earth.

“With CAL, we’re starting to get a really thorough understanding of how the atoms behave in microgravity, how to manipulate them, how the system is different than the ones we use on Earth,” said Dr Rob Thompson, mission scientist for CAL. “This is all knowledge that is going to build a foundation for what I hope is a long future of cold atom science in space.”

The CAL scientists created the ultracold atom clouds using lasers to begin to slow atoms down, using radio waves to “cut away” the most energetic atoms, and then slowly releasing the atoms from a magnetic trap to lower pressure and temperature. These processes allow for the cloud of atoms to reach temperatures of approximately one ten-billionth of a degree above absolute zero.

Designing and launching the laboratory was a considerable technical challenge, in part due to the size of the equipment typically required to produce ultracold atom clouds, and due to the necessity to fly extremely tightly sealed instruments to the space station without the leaking of any stray atoms.

“Several parts of the system required redesigning, and some parts broke in ways we’d never seen before,” said Robert Shotwell, CAL project manager. “The facility had to be completely torn apart and reassembled three times.”