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.

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