NASA's Cold Atom Lab uses quantum technologies to enhance space science, investigating variations in gravity, dark matter and dark energy, and testing general relativity in a microgravity environment. Credit: NASA
NASA's Cold Atom Lab on the International Space Station is applying quantum technologies to advanced space science, providing new insights into the gravitational field, dark matter and dark energy, and testing aspects of general relativity in microgravity.
Future space missions could use quantum techniques to track water on Earth, probe the composition of the Moon and other planets, and investigate mysterious cosmic phenomena.
NASA's Cold Atom Lab, the first facility to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS), has taken another step towards revolutionizing how quantum science is used in space. Members of the science team used one of the lab's onboard tools to measure subtle vibrations on the space station. This is the first time that extremely cold atoms have been used to detect changes in the surrounding environment in space.
The study, published August 13 in the journal Nature Communications, also reports the longest demonstration of the wave nature of atoms falling freely in space.
Advances in quantum metrology
The Cold Atom Lab science team made their measurements using a quantum tool called an atom interferometer, which can precisely measure gravity, magnetic fields, and other forces. Scientists and engineers on Earth use this tool to study the fundamental properties of gravity and advance technologies that help planes and ships navigate. (Cell phones, transistors, and GPS are just a few of the other major technologies based on quantum science, but they don't use atom interferometers.)
NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory on the International Space Station is known as the coldest place in the universe. But why are scientists creating clouds of atoms just above absolute zero? And why in space? Quantum physics, of course. Learn how CAL is helping scientists learn more about the physics behind miniaturization technologies and the fundamental properties of the particles that make up everything we see. Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Physicists have been eager to use atom interferometers in space because microgravity allows longer measurement times and makes the instruments more sensitive, but the highly sensitive instruments have long been thought to be too fragile to function for long periods without human assistance. The Cold Atom Lab, operated remotely from Earth, has demonstrated that this is possible.
“Reaching this milestone has been extremely challenging, and success wasn't necessarily a given,” said Jason Williams, project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Cold Atom Lab in Southern California. “It took dedication and a spirit of adventure from our team to make it happen.”
NASA's Cold Atom Lab, housed on the International Space Station, recently demonstrated the use of a tool called an atom interferometer that can precisely measure gravity and other forces, which could have many applications in space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Insights into gravity and beyond
A space-based sensor that can measure gravity with high precision could have a wide range of potential applications, including revealing the makeup of planets and moons in our solar system, as different materials have different densities that cause subtle variations in gravity.
This kind of measurement is already being made by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-Up (GRACE-FO), a US-German collaboration that detects tiny changes in gravity to track the movement of water and ice on Earth. An atom interferometer could provide additional precision and stability, revealing more detailed information about mass changes on the surface.
Precise measurements of gravity may also provide insight into the nature of two great mysteries in cosmology: dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter is an invisible substance that is five times more abundant in the universe than the “normal” matter that makes up planets, stars and everything else we can see. Dark energy is the name given to the unknown driving force behind the accelerating expansion of the universe.
“Atom interferometry could also be used to test Einstein's general theory of relativity in new ways,” said Professor Cass Sackett of the University of Virginia, Cold Atom Lab principal investigator and co-author of the new study. “This is a fundamental theory that explains the large-scale structure of the universe, and we know that there are aspects of this theory that we don't properly understand. This technique could help us fill in those gaps and gain a more complete understanding of the reality we live in.”
NASA's Cold Atom Lab is an out-of-this-world research lab aboard the International Space Station that studies the quantum nature of atoms, the building blocks of the universe. In this animated explainer, we explore what quantum science is and why NASA is trying to do it in space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Cold Atom Lab: A microgravity quantum laboratory
The Cold Atom Lab, about the size of a mini-fridge, was launched to the space station in 2018 with the goal of advancing quantum science by establishing a long-term facility in the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit. The lab cools atoms to near absolute zero, or minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273 degrees Celsius). At this temperature, some atoms can form a Bose-Einstein condensate, a state of matter in which all atoms essentially share the same quantum identity. As a result, some of the atoms' quantum properties, which are normally microscopic, become macroscopic and easier to study.
Quantum properties include behaving like solid particles and sometimes like waves. Scientists don't know how all the building blocks of matter can transition between these different physical behaviors, but they are using quantum technologies, like those available at the Cold Atom Lab, to search for answers.
In microgravity, Bose-Einstein condensates become cooler and can exist for longer, giving scientists more opportunities to study them. The atom interferometer is one of several tools in the facility that exploits the quantum properties of atoms to enable precision measurements.
Atoms have wave-like properties, meaning a single atom can travel two physically separate paths at the same time. When gravity or other forces act on these waves, scientists can measure the effects by observing how the waves recombine and interact.
Exploring the quantum future
“We hope that space-based atom interferometers will lead to exciting new discoveries and incredible quantum technologies that will impact our daily lives, bringing us into a quantum future,” said study co-author Nick Bigelow, principal investigator of the Cold Atom Institute, a consortium of US and German scientists, and professor at the University of Rochester in New York.
Reference: “Pathfinder Experiments Using Atom Interferometers at the International Space Station Cold Atom Lab”, Jason R. Williams, Charles A. Sackett, Holger Ahlers, David C. Aveline, Patrick Boegel, Sofia Botsi, Eric Charron, Ethan R. Elliott, Naceur Gaaloul, Enno Giese, Waldemar Herr, James R. Kellogg, James M. Kohel, Norman E. Lay, Matthias Meister, Gabriel Müller, Holger Müller, Kamal Oudrhiri, Leah Phillips, Annie Pichery, Ernst M. Rasel, Albert Roura, Matteo Sbroscia, Wolfgang P. Schleich, Christian Schneider, Christian Schubert, Bejoy Sen, Robert J. Thompson, Nicholas P. Bigelow, August 2024 13th, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50585-6
Cold Atom Lab Details
NASA's Cold Atom Lab on the International Space Station (ISS) is a groundbreaking initiative harnessing quantum technology in the unique microgravity environment of space. Opened in 2018, this tiny laboratory, about the size of a mini-fridge, cools atoms to near absolute zero, creating an environment where quantum phenomena can be observed more clearly than on Earth.
The lab's main tool, an atom interferometer, allows for precise measurements of gravity, providing insight into the fundamental nature of gravity and potential clues about dark matter and dark energy. By taking advantage of the prolonged free-fall conditions on the ISS, the Cold Atom Lab provides an unparalleled platform to advance quantum science, potentially leading to the birth of new technologies and a deeper understanding of the universe.
