NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory: a multi user facility for quantum gas research on the International Space Station

POSTER

Abstract

NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) was launched to the International Space Station in 2018 where it has been conducting quantum experiments in microgravity ever since. CAL is a multi-user instrument designed for fundamental physics experiments and maturation of quantum technologies for space. Scientists have performed investigations ranging from Bose Einstein Condensates (BECs) in bubble shaped geometries to extreme cooling protocols, and commissioning efforts have recently been conducted to demonstrate atom interferometry and dual species BECs in space.

*This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Publication: 1) Aveline et al., "Observation of Bose-Einstein condensates in an Earth-orbiting researchlab", Nature, 582, 193-197 (2020)
2) Pollard et al., "Quasi-Adiabatic External State Preparation of Ultracold Atoms inMicrogravity", Microgravity Sci. Technol., 32, 1175 (2020)
3) Carollo et al., "Observation of ultracold atomic bubbles in orbital microgravity", Nature,606, 281-286 (2022)
4) Gaaloul et al., "A space-based quantum gas laboratory at picokelvin energy scales",Nature Communications, 13, 7889 (2022)
5) Elliott et al., "Quantum gas mixtures and dual-species atom interferometry inspace", Nature 623, 502 (2023).
6) Williams et al., "Pathfinder experiments with atom interferometry in the Cold Atom Labonboard the International Space Station",
Nature Communications, 15, 6414 (2024)

Presenters

  • Jason R Williams

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Authors

  • Jason R Williams

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Kamal Oudrhiri

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • David C Aveline

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Sofia Botsi

    • Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  • Ethan R Elliott

    • NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab

  • James M Kohel

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Jim R Kellogg

    • Jet Propulsion Laboratory
    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Javier Bosch-Lluis

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
    • JPL

  • Arvid Croonquist

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Walker L Dula

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Nate Harvey

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Shahram Javidnia

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Mehdi Langlois

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Norman E Lay

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
    • JPL

  • Sarah K Rees

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Matteo S Sbroscia

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Christian Schneider

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Gregory Y Shin

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • Robert J Thompson

    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
    • JPL

  • Nicholas P Bigelow

    • University of Rochester

  • Eric A. Cornell

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology Boulder
    • National Institute of Standards and Technology Boulder, University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Peter W Engels

    • Washington State University

  • Nathan Lundblad

    • Bates College

  • Cass A Sackett

    • University of Virginia