Quantum Gas Mixtures and Dual-Species Atom Interferometry in Space

Abstract

The capability to reach ultracold atomic temperatures in compact instruments has recently been extended into space. Ultracold temperatures amplify quantum effects, while free-fall allows further cooling and longer interactions time with gravity - the final force without a quantum description. On Earth, these devices have produced macroscopic quantum phenomena such as Bose-Einstein condensation (BECs), superfluidity, and strongly interacting quantum gases. Quantum sensors interfering the superposition of two ultracold atomic isotopes have tested the Universality of Free Fall (UFF), a core tenet of Einstein's classical gravitational theory, at the $10^{-12}$ level. In space, cooling the elements needed to explore the rich physics of strong interactions and preparing the multiple species required for quantum tests of the UFF has remained elusive. Here, utilizing upgraded capabilities of the multi-user Cold Atom Lab (CAL) instrument within the International Space Station (ISS), we report the first simultaneous production of a dual species Bose-Einstein condensate in space (formed from ${}^{87}$Rb and ${}^{41}$K), observation of interspecies interactions, as well as the production of ${}^{39}$K ultracold gases. We have further achieved the first space-borne demonstration of simultaneous atom interferometry with two atomic species (${}^{87}$Rb and ${}^{41}$K). These results are an important step towards quantum tests of UFF in space, and will allow scientists to investigate aspects of few-body physics, quantum chemistry, and fundamental physics in novel regimes without the perturbing asymmetry of gravity.

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Quantum mixtures of ultracold gases of neutral atoms
• Trapping of Single Atoms in Metasurface Optical Tweezer Arrays
• Robust double Bragg diffraction via detuning control
• Miscibility of Binary Bose-Einstein Condensates with $p$-wave Interaction
• Micro-integrated crossed-beam optical dipole trap system with long-term alignment stability for mobile atomic quantum technologies
• Bayesian optimization for state engineering of quantum gases
• Quantum arrival times in free fall
• High-contrast double Bragg interferometry via detuning control
• Context-Dependent Time-Energy Uncertainty Relations from Projective Quantum Measurements
• NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory: Five Years of Quantum Science Operations in Space
• Interferometry of Atomic Matter Waves in the Cold Atom Lab onboard the International Space Station
• Lieb-Mattis states for robust entangled differential phase sensing
• Delta-Kick Collimation of Heteronuclear Feshbach Molecules