Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have upgraded a device the size of a mini fridge that is designed to cool atoms to near-absolute zero as a way to develop new quantum technologies.
The Cold Atom Lab (CAL) enables orbiting scientists to leverage the unique environment of microgravity to accomplish cutting-edge research that cannot be done anywhere else. It can cool matter down to below -237°C, only slightly hotter than absolute zero (-273.15°C).
At this extreme cold, atoms form a large quantum object called a Bose‑Einstein condensate, which is often thought of as a fifth state of matter, beyond solids, liquids, gases and plasma. This collection of matter waves follows the rules of quantum mechanics despite being much larger than subatomic particles, and the microgravity of low Earth orbit helps to make the waves even larger.
“At the coldest temperatures, matter behaves drastically different from anything we have experienced,” said Jason Williams, project scientist for CAL...