NASA’s Cold Atom Lab on the International Space Station uses quantum technology for advanced space science, offering new insights into gravitational fields, dark matter, and dark energy, and testing aspects of general relativity in microgravity.
Future space missions could use quantum technology to track water on Earth, explore the composition of moons and other planets, or probe mysterious cosmic phenomena.
NASA’s Cold Atom Lab, a first-of-its-kind facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS), has taken another step toward revolutionizing how quantum science can be used in space. Members of the science team measured subtle vibrations of the space station with one of the lab’s onboard tools — the first time ultra-cold atoms have been employed to detect changes in the surrounding environment in space.
The study, published in Nature Communications on August 13, also reports the longest demonstration of the wave-like nature of atoms in freefall in space.
Advances in Quantum Measurements
The Cold Atom Lab science team made their measurements with a quantum tool called an atom interferometer, which can precisely measure gravity, magnetic fields, and other forces. Scientists and engineers on Earth use this tool to study the fundamental nature of gravity and advance technologies that aid aircraft and ship navigation. (Cell phones, transistors, and GPS are just a few other major technologies based on quantum science but do not involve atom interferometry.)
NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory on the International Space Station is regularly the coldest known spot in the universe. But why are scientists producing clouds of atoms a fraction of a degree above absolute zero? And why do they need to do it in space? Quantum physics, of course. Here’s how CAL is helping scientists learn more about the physics behind things like miniaturized technology and the fundamental nature of the particles that make up everything we see. Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Physicists have been eager to apply atom interferometry in space because the microgravity there allows longer measurement times and greater instrument sensitivity, but the exquisitely sensitive equipment has been considered too fragile to function for extended periods without hands-on assistance. The Cold Atom Lab, which is operated remotely from Earth, has now shown it’s possible.
“Reaching this milestone was incredibly challenging, and our success was not always a given,” said Jason Williams, the Cold Atom Lab project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It took dedication and a sense of adventure by the team to make this happen.”
Gravitational Insights and Beyond
Space-based sensors that can measure gravity with high precision have a wide range of potential applications. For instance, they could reveal the composition of planets and moons in our solar system, because different materials have different densities that create subtle variations in gravity.
This type of measurement is already being performed by the U.S.-German collaboration GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on), which detects slight changes in gravity to track the movement of water and ice on Earth. An atom interferometer could provide additional precision and stability, revealing more detail about surface mass changes.
Precise measurements of gravity could also offer insights into the nature of dark matter and dark energy, two major cosmological mysteries. Dark matter is an invisible substance five times more common in the universe than the “regular” matter that composes planets, stars, and everything else we can see. Dark energy is the name given to the unknown driver of the universe’s accelerating expansion.
“Atom interferometry could also be used to test Einstein’s theory of general relativity in new ways,” said University of Virginia professor Cass Sackett, a Cold Atom Lab principal investigator and co-author of the new study. “This is the basic theory explaining the large-scale structure of our universe, and we know that there are aspects of the theory that we don’t understand correctly. This technology may help us fill in those gaps and give us a more complete picture of the reality we inhabit.”
NASA’s Cold Atom Lab studies the quantum nature of atoms, the building blocks of our universe, in a place that is out of this world – the International Space Station. This animated explainer explores what quantum science is and why NASA wants to do it in space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Cold Atom Lab: A Microgravity Quantum Laboratory
About the size of a minifridge, the Cold Atom Lab launched to the space station in 2018 with the goal of advancing quantum science by putting a long-term facility in the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit. The lab cools atoms to almost absolute zero, or minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273 degrees Celsius). At this temperature, some atoms can form a Bose-Einstein condensate, a state of matter in which all atoms essentially share the same quantum identity. As a result, some of the atoms’ typically microscopic quantum properties become macroscopic, making them easier to study.
Quantum properties include sometimes acting like solid particles and sometimes like waves. Scientists don’t know how these building blocks of all matter can transition between such different physical behaviors, but they’re using quantum technology like what’s available on the Cold Atom Lab to seek answers.
In microgravity, Bose-Einstein condensates can reach colder temperatures and exist for longer, giving scientists more opportunities to study them. The atom interferometer is among several tools in the facility enabling precision measurements by harnessing the quantum nature of atoms.
Due to its wave-like behavior, a single atom can simultaneously travel two physically separate paths. If gravity or other forces are acting on those waves, scientists can measure that influence by observing how the waves recombine and interact.
Exploring Quantum Futures
“I expect that space-based atom interferometry will lead to exciting new discoveries and fantastic quantum technologies impacting everyday life, and will transport us into a quantum future,” said Nick Bigelow, a professor at University of Rochester in New York and Cold Atom Lab principal investigator for a consortium of U.S. and German scientists who co-authored the study.
Reference: “Pathfinder experiments with atom interferometry in the Cold Atom Lab onboard the International Space Station” by Jason R. Williams, Charles A. Sackett, Holger Ahlers, David C. Aveline, Patrick Boegel, Sofia Botsi, Eric Charron, Ethan R. Elliott, Naceur Gaaloul, Enno Giese, Waldemar Herr, James R. Kellogg, James M. Kohel, Norman E. Lay, Matthias Meister, Gabriel Müller, Holger Müller, Kamal Oudrhiri, Leah Phillips, Annie Pichery, Ernst M. Rasel, Albert Roura, Matteo Sbroscia, Wolfgang P. Schleich, Christian Schneider, Christian Schubert, Bejoy Sen, Robert J. Thompson and Nicholas P. Bigelow, 13 August 2024, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50585-6
More About the Cold Atom Lab
NASA’s Cold Atom Lab, situated aboard the International Space Station (ISS), represents a groundbreaking effort to harness quantum technology in the unique microgravity environment of space. Launched in 2018, this compact laboratory, about the size of a minifridge, cools atoms to nearly absolute zero, creating conditions where quantum phenomena can be observed more clearly than on Earth.
The lab’s primary tool, an atom interferometer, enables precise measurements of gravitational forces, offering insights into the fundamental nature of gravity and potential clues about dark matter and dark energy. By exploiting the prolonged state of freefall aboard the ISS, the Cold Atom Lab provides an unparalleled platform for advancing quantum science, potentially leading to new technologies and deeper understanding of the universe.
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3 Comments
Why are scientists producing clouds of atoms a fraction of a degree above absolute zero? And why do they need to do it in space? Quantum physics, of course.
VERY GOOD!
Ask researchers to think deeply:
1. Do you truly understand quantum physics?
2. How do you understand using a strange cat as an analogy to quantum mechanics?
3. Do you think the so-called quantum is high-dimensional spacetime matter or low dimensional spacetime matter?
4. Is the so-called quantum related to topological vortex fractal structures?
5. Can low dimensional spacetime structures be components of high-dimensional spacetime?
6. Is the spin observed in scientific experiments related to topological vortices?
7. Is spin a physical reality from cosmic accretion disks to microscopic particles?
and so on.
Scientific research guided by correct theories can help humanity avoid detours, failures, and pomposity. Please witness the exemplary collaboration between theoretical physicists and experimentalists (https://scitechdaily.com/microscope-spacecrafts-most-precise-test-of-key-component-of-the-theory-of-general-relativity/#comment-854286). Some people in contemporary physics has always lived in a self righteous children’s story world. Whose values have been overturned by such a comical and ridiculous reality?
From Physical Review Letters (PRL), to Nature, and Science, even the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the so-called academic journals firmly believe that two high-dimensional spacetime objects (such as two sets of cobalt-60) rotating in opposite directions can be transformed into two objects that mirror each other, and that the asymmetry between the amount of created matter and antimatter led to the matter-dominated Universe as we know it today.
Does the facts tell the so-called academic journals that two sets of cobalt-60 rotating in opposite directions can be transformed into two objects that mirror each other? Does mathematics tell the so-called academic journals that matter and antimatter are asymmetric?
When physics no longer believes in facts and mathematics, it is no different from theology.
Space has physical properties of zero viscosity and absolute incompressibility. Zero viscosity and absolute incompressibility are physical characteristics of ideal fluids. The space with ideal fluid physical characteristics forms vortices via topological phase transitions, which is not difficult to understand mathematically. Once the topological vortex is formed, it occupies space and maintains its presence in time. This is the transition from chaos to order via two bidirectional coupled continuous chaotic systems.
Symmetry of topological vortex can be used to explore particle behavior under spatial, temporal, and quantum number reversals, involving quantum gravity, discrete and continuous changes. It underpins the consistency of natural laws and experiment reproducibility.
The so-called academic publications (such as Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, etc.) blatantly humiliate public wisdom, and have degenerated into malignant tumors that hinder scientific development and progress. Isn’t this a shame in today’s academic community?
If the researcher is interested, you can browse https://scitechdaily.com/microscope-spacecrafts-most-precise-test-of-key-component-of-the-theory-of-general-relativity/#comment-775504.
Science must understand natural laws via mathematical rules. Author hope researchers are not fooled by the pseudoscientific theories of the Physical Review Letters (PRL), and hope more people dare to stand up and fight against rampant pseudoscience.
Topological vortices are point defects in spacetime. Point defects do not only impact the thermodynamic properties, but are also central to kinetic processes. The rotation of topological vortices is spin. Spin is synchronized with energy, spin is synchronized with gravitation, spin is synchronized with evolution, spin is synchronized with time. Each topological vortex is a superposition of left-handed and right-handed vortices. The synchronization effect of different topological vortices makes the evolution of spatiotemporal motion more complex.
The so-called quantum is high-dimensional spacetime matter or low dimensional spacetime matter?
Which of the so-called quantum and topological vortex fractal structures is physical reality? (https://scitechdaily.com/microscope-spacecrafts-most-precise-test-of-key-component-of-the-theory-of-general-relativity/#comment-838380).
As a now eighty year old lay discoverer taking a hasty course on single atom double-slit experiments on the https://physicsworld.com/a/double-slits-with-single-atoms/ website today, I’m additionally convinced that pulsing angular lines of gravity force are why even single electrons/atoms appear to be both particles and waves. The problem with mainstream physics is, despite my online videos (e.g., “1Gravity” https://odysee.com/@charlesgshaver:d/1Gravity:8)
and numerous postings, they still fail to recognize the true nature of gravity, with me adding to it today that the frequency of pulsing of gravity lines of force is so high that even single electrons and atoms can ‘appear’ to be in two places at one time. Hopefully, the less dense field of pulsing angular lines of gravity force on the ISS will allow the scientists to observe single atoms going through one slit to affect two or more spots on the target surface as pulsing angular lines of gravity force bounce them around within the instrument.