OpenQuantum: a low-cost, open source hardware blueprint for ultracold atoms

OpenQuantum is a complete, simple, low-cost, and open-source blueprint for a rubidium magneto-optical trap. The initiative provides high-quality educational materials alongside CAD models, electronics schematics, control firmware, and assembly instructions, to substantially lower the barrier to entry for building a teaching lab for quantum engineering. By combining design simplifications such as a single-beam mirror system, microwave modulation for generating repumping light, and piezo-based phase modulation for absorption spectroscopy, we are able to substantially shrink the complexity, cost, and size of the apparatus while simultaneously increasing optical access for downstream experiments. Moreover, by leveraging modern digital manufacturing tools and processes, we are able to create a design that can be replicated even without expensive fabrication equipment, anywhere in the world, for less than $10,000 in components (for the entire apparatus).