Science & Tech · Space · 9 hrs ago
Chinese team sets record by cooling atoms on Tiangong station
A team involving Peking University and Chinese research institutes cooled rubidium atoms to a record-low temperature aboard China’s Tiangong space station.
The atoms reached 9.7 trillionths of a degree above absolute zero, colder than previous results from a German drop tower and NASA’s Cold Atom Lab on the International Space Station.
The cloud stayed together for seven seconds, longer than the earlier experiments described in the reports.
The experiment used a purpose-built cold-atom facility that was developed over 15 years and launched to the station in 2022.
In the station’s microgravity, the atoms can be cooled more efficiently and observed for longer, helping researchers study matter under extreme conditions.
The result could help advance precise clocks and quantum sensors for measuring gravity, navigation and other research.
Scientists say the work offers a platform for further studies, but the reports do not give a timeline for specific applications.
Chinese scientists cooled a cloud of rubidium atoms aboard the Tiangong space station to 9.7 picokelvins, setting a record for the lowest temperature achieved.
The atom cloud remained observable for seven seconds, longer than the durations reported for earlier experiments in a German drop tower and on the International Space Station.
The results were published in the journal Science and were achieved using an all-optical cooling method in Tiangong’s ultracold-atom physics cabinet.
Researchers say the work could support fundamental physics research and technologies including precision measurement, navigation and quantum sensing.
- Who
- A Chinese research team led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, with Peking University and the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics.
- What
- The team cooled rubidium atoms to 9.7 picokelvins, a record low, using an all-optical method.
- When
- The results were published in Science on November 6 Beijing time. The articles were published on November 5 UTC.
- Where
- Aboard China’s Tiangong space station.
- Why
- The work advances research on ultracold atoms and could support precision measurement, space navigation and other quantum technologies.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The Tiangong ultracold-atom physics cabinet project began its feasibility work.
The cabinet was completed and launched with the Mengtian module.
The paper reporting the results was published online in Science.
- Record temperature
- 9.7 picokelvins
- Atom cloud observation time
- 7 seconds
- Atoms used
- Rubidium
- Experiment location
- Tiangong space station
- Publication
- Science, November 6 Beijing time
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What people are saying
This is a major achievement in the field of ultracold atoms; this achievement is now a good starting point to advance atomic temperature measurement and precision measurement.