Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 5 hrs ago
Researchers directly observe ultraquantum turbulence for the first time
Researchers at the University of Cambridge directly observed ultraquantum turbulence in a gas made from potassium atoms.
They cooled the atoms close to absolute zero and used lasers and electromagnetic fields to control them.
In this unusual state, turbulence appears as thin, tangled vortex lines rather than the familiar swirling currents in everyday liquids.
The team used a sheet of laser light to image slices of the gas and track how the vortices tangled, changed shape and gradually faded.
The process resembled what has been seen in liquid helium, although the two fluids differ in other ways.
That similarity supports the idea that the pattern of change is shared across different quantum systems, and strengthens mathematical models developed over decades.
Future experiments may image several slices at once, while the same kind of turbulence has also been proposed to occur in neutron-star dark matter halos.
Researchers have directly observed ultraquantum turbulence in a dilute quantum gas for the first time.
The team cooled thousands of potassium atoms close to absolute zero and used lasers to image slices of the turbulent gas.
They tracked vortex lines as they tangled, broke apart, connected into rings and moved to the edge of the gas.
The decay of turbulence resembled processes previously seen in liquid helium, despite major differences between the two fluids.
The findings support long-standing mathematical models and may help researchers study similar dynamics in settings such as neutron stars.
- Who
- Sebastian Morris and colleagues at the University of Cambridge carried out the experiment.
- What
- They directly observed ultraquantum turbulence and tracked vortex behaviour in a dilute quantum gas.
- When
- Published on 9 November 2026. The experiment date is not stated.
- Where
- In a laboratory at the University of Cambridge.
- Why
- To observe ultraquantum turbulence and study how its vortices and disorder change over time.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The team cooled thousands of potassium atoms close to absolute zero and confined them in a cylinder.
The researchers used a sheet of laser light to image a slice of the gas.
The team tracked vortices as they tangled, broke apart, formed rings or moved to the cylinder’s edge.
- Atoms
- Thousands of potassium atoms
- Temperature
- Cooled very close to absolute zero
- Container
- A cylinder a few dozen micrometres in size
- Imaging method
- A sheet of laser light isolated one slice of the gas
- Comparison
- The turbulence decay resembled behaviour previously observed in liquid helium
What people are saying
As soon as I got the first pictures, I felt like, this is the one,
The way order forms is similar for the two systems, but nothing else is,
The new work supports the models with precise and sophisticated experimental evidence,
The new measurement is phenomenal and surpasses past investigations of ultraquantum turbulence.