https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov

The Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) is a fundament physics user facility that will operate on the International Space Station (ISS). CAL will produce clouds of ultra-cooled atoms called Bose-Einstein condensates. Chilled to a miniscule fraction of a degree above absolute zero — much colder than the average temperature of deep space — the atoms in a BEC demonstrate quantum characteristics at relatively large size scales, allowing researchers to explore this strange domain.

On Earth, freely evolving BEC’s are dragged down by the pull of gravity, and can typically only be observed for a fraction of a second. But in the microgravity environment of the space station, each freely evolving BEC can be observed for up to 10 seconds, which is longer than what’s possible with any other existing BEC experiment. CAL is a multi-user facility and researchers will be able to conduct experiments remotely, with no astronaut assistance, with up to 6.5 hours of experimentation time available each day.

CAL successfully launched to the ISS on May 21, 2018, aboard an Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft, atop an Antares rocket, from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

In the microgravity environment, observation times over 10 seconds and temperatures below 100 pK are achievable. Long time evolution of the wave properties of matter.

The following image is a distribution at a very much higher temperature. 50 nK is five hundred times as hot as 100 pK.

Cool, man.

Checking previous records. “50 pK, lowest temperature ever produced, achieved with a rubidium gas. 450 pK, lowest temperature sodium Bose–Einstein condensate gas ever achieved in the laboratory”.

CAL is designed to be a simple but versatile experimental facility, capable of producing ultra-cold samples of several atomic species and loading them into optical lattices, or very weak magnetic traps, and studying them under a variety of conditions. CAL is designed to be upgradable to meet the needs of specific future investigations. The CAL is a compact, atom-chip based apparatus, capable of trapping both Rubidium (87Rb) and Potassium (either 40K or 41K), and of producing degenerate gases of each species after a few seconds of collection and cooling. The atom chip approach is chosen because of power and volume constraints, though for many applications, transfers the atoms into either a weak trap away from the chip, or into an optical lattice.

CAL offers investigators a suite of precision tools to enable a wide variety of science. Three atomic species; microwave state selection and adiabatic rapid passage enables any of 24 different quantum states to prepare (with an infinite number of mixtures and super positions). The Feshbach coil allows for the precise control of interactions between atoms in certain states. Bragg beams enable atom interferometry, but are also a sensitive way to probe a variety of condensate properties. High and low resolution imaging allow scientists to view atom clouds from two directions. Delta-kick cooling allows scientists to access a previously unexplored range of effective temperature and enables precise focusing and shaping of atomic clouds.

In a space-based laboratory, up to 20 seconds interaction times and as low as 1 picokelvin temperatures are achievable, and it could lead to exploration of unknown quantum mechanical phenomena and test some of the most fundamental laws of physics.

The initial mission will have a duration of 12 months with up to five years of extended operation.

12 months at 6 hrs per day is a lot of experiment time.

mollwollfumble said:

CAL is designed to be a simple but versatile experimental facility, capable of producing ultra-cold samples of several atomic species and loading them into optical lattices, or very weak magnetic traps, and studying them under a variety of conditions. CAL is designed to be upgradable to meet the needs of specific future investigations. The CAL is a compact, atom-chip based apparatus, capable of trapping both Rubidium (87Rb) and Potassium (either 40K or 41K), and of producing degenerate gases of each species after a few seconds of collection and cooling. The atom chip approach is chosen because of power and volume constraints, though for many applications, transfers the atoms into either a weak trap away from the chip, or into an optical lattice.

CAL offers investigators a suite of precision tools to enable a wide variety of science. Three atomic species; microwave state selection and adiabatic rapid passage enables any of 24 different quantum states to prepare (with an infinite number of mixtures and super positions). The Feshbach coil allows for the precise control of interactions between atoms in certain states. Bragg beams enable atom interferometry, but are also a sensitive way to probe a variety of condensate properties. High and low resolution imaging allow scientists to view atom clouds from two directions. Delta-kick cooling allows scientists to access a previously unexplored range of effective temperature and enables precise focusing and shaping of atomic clouds.

In a space-based laboratory, up to 20 seconds interaction times and as low as 1 picokelvin temperatures are achievable, and it could lead to exploration of unknown quantum mechanical phenomena and test some of the most fundamental laws of physics.

The initial mission will have a duration of 12 months with up to five years of extended operation.

12 months at 6 hrs per day is a lot of experiment time.

An ape has come a long way.

mollwollfumble said:

CAL is designed to be a simple but versatile experimental facility, capable of producing ultra-cold samples of several atomic species and loading them into optical lattices, or very weak magnetic traps, and studying them under a variety of conditions. CAL is designed to be upgradable to meet the needs of specific future investigations. The CAL is a compact, atom-chip based apparatus, capable of trapping both Rubidium (87Rb) and Potassium (either 40K or 41K), and of producing degenerate gases of each species after a few seconds of collection and cooling. The atom chip approach is chosen because of power and volume constraints, though for many applications, transfers the atoms into either a weak trap away from the chip, or into an optical lattice.

CAL offers investigators a suite of precision tools to enable a wide variety of science. Three atomic species; microwave state selection and adiabatic rapid passage enables any of 24 different quantum states to prepare (with an infinite number of mixtures and super positions). The Feshbach coil allows for the precise control of interactions between atoms in certain states. Bragg beams enable atom interferometry, but are also a sensitive way to probe a variety of condensate properties. High and low resolution imaging allow scientists to view atom clouds from two directions. Delta-kick cooling allows scientists to access a previously unexplored range of effective temperature and enables precise focusing and shaping of atomic clouds.

In a space-based laboratory, up to 20 seconds interaction times and as low as 1 picokelvin temperatures are achievable, and it could lead to exploration of unknown quantum mechanical phenomena and test some of the most fundamental laws of physics.

The initial mission will have a duration of 12 months with up to five years of extended operation.

12 months at 6 hrs per day is a lot of experiment time.

Why don’t you include the link from where you got this information?

PermeateFree said:

Why don’t you include the link from where you got this information?

You didn’t read my OP?

The above is a summary of four links:
NASA TV, but there’s no point in linking that here.
https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2477.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Atom_Laboratory

An article from last year explains things better.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/09/coolest-science-ever-headed-space-station

NASA will launch its $70 million Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) to the International Space Station (ISS). Once in orbit, the fully automated rig will create BECs and do other cold atom experiments, taking advantage of weightlessness to attain record-low temperatures and break ground for ambitious studies of quantum mechanics and gravity. Miniaturization is the key: Experiments that once required a room full of lasers, optical elements, and vacuum systems can now fit in a device the size of an ice chest, with the atoms trapped on the surface of a microchip. The effort will stretch the culture of atomic physicists, forcing them to share a single remote facility, like users of a space telescope.

To make a BEC, physicists use magnets and lasers to trap and chill atoms so that their speeds drop from thousands of meters per second to centimeters per second—slower than a walk. But to probe a BEC, they must release it from its trap and shine laser light on it, creating a shadow that reveals the atoms’ distribution.

On Earth, gravity pulls at the atoms the moment they are released, typically giving physicists just 10 to 20 milliseconds to make their measurements before the BEC crashes to the bottom of the vacuum chamber. In the weightlessness of orbit, a BEC should hover for up to 10 seconds before lingering gas in the vacuum chamber warms it up, Sackett says, allowing time for measurements that can’t be made on Earth.

Four steps to frigid temperatures. To chill a gas nearly to absolute zero, CAL employs a multistep process within a vacuum chamber about the size of a stick of butter. A microchip known as an “atom chip” drives the final cooling steps.

1. Magneto-optical trapping. Within a magnetic trap, lasers in six directions counteract the motion of the atoms, slowing and cooling them.

2. The atom chip takes over. After the atoms are chilled to about 100 microkelvins, they’re transferred to a purely magnetic trap created by electric currents in the atom chip.

3. Evaporative cooling. Like blowing on hot soup, radio waves from the chip nudge the hottest atoms out of the trap, leaving behind cooler ones. A BEC can form at this stage.

4. A chilling expansion. To push temperatures lower, the magnetic trap is weakened. The cloud of atoms expands and cools while remaining …

The atom chip.

How to get 50 picokelvins? Drop atoms from the top of this tower.

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

Why don’t you include the link from where you got this information?

You didn’t read my OP?

The above is a summary of four links:
NASA TV, but there’s no point in linking that here.
https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2477.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Atom_Laboratory

Your OP did not take your post to your quotes, I did try, but being a sizable document with numerous sub-headings, it was not clear whether they were your thoughts or someone else. It is a good idea to provide links to quoted content so the passages can be checked for clarification.