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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 space1,2. Ultracold temperatures amplify quantum effects, whereas 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 condensates (BECs), superfluidity, and strongly interacting quantum gases3. Terrestrial 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 level4. In space, cooling the elements needed to explore the rich physics of strong interactions or perform quantum tests of the UFF has remained elusive. Here, using upgraded hardware of the multiuser Cold Atom Lab (CAL) instrument aboard the International Space Station (ISS), we report, to our knowledge, the first simultaneous production of a dual-species BEC in space (formed from 87Rb and 41K), observation of interspecies interactions, as well as the production of 39K ultracold gases. Operating a single laser at a ‘magic wavelength’ at which Rabi rates of simultaneously applied Bragg pulses are equal, we have further achieved the first spaceborne demonstration of simultaneous atom interferometry with two atomic species (87Rb and 41K). 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 new regimes without the perturbing asymmetry of gravity.

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Fig. 1: CAL on-orbit hardware upgrades.
Fig. 2: Production of degenerate quantum mixtures in space.
Fig. 3: Interactions of degenerate 87Rb and 41K mixtures.
Fig. 4: Dual-species atom interferometry in space.

Data availability

All NASA CAL data are on a schedule for public availability through the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) website (https://psi.ndc.nasa.gov/app/record/206098) at the time of publication.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of current and former members of CAL’s operations and technical teams and those of the team at ColdQuanta. We also recognize the continuing support of JPL’s Astronomy, Physics, and Space Technology Directorate, of the JPL Communications, Tracking, and Radar Division, the JPL Mission Assurance Office, the Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC) cadre at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the International Space Station Program Office (ISSPO) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and ISS crew members. We are thankful for the dedicated support from the Biological and Physical Sciences Division (BPS) of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Finally, we appreciate the scientific guidance and discussions with CAL Principal Investigator E. Cornell, ISS Chief Scientist K. Costello, BPS Fundamental Physics Program Scientist M. Robinson and JPL Chief Scientist for Astronomy and Physics C. Lawrence. CAL was designed, managed and operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Task Order 80NM0018F0581). CAL and the Principal Investigator-led science teams, including E.R.E, D.C.A, N.P.B, S.B., J.P.D., P.E., J.R.K., J.M.K., N.E.L., N.L., M.E.M., H.M., K.O., L.E.P., C.A.S., M.S., R.J.T., and J.R.W. are sponsored by BPS of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. and by ISSPO at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. N.G., E.M.R., W.P.S., P.B., G.M. and A.P. acknowledge support by the DLR Space Administration with funds provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) under grant numbers DLR 50WM2245-A/B (CAL-II) and 50WM2253A (AI-quadrat). N.G. acknowledges support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy (EXC-2123 QuantumFrontiers Grants No. 390837967) and through CRC 1227 (DQ-mat) within Project No. A05. A.P., T.E. and E.C acknowledge support by the “ADI 2019/2022” project funded by the IDEX Paris-Saclay, ANR-11-IDEX-0003-02. HPC resources from the “Mésocentre” computing center of CentraleSupélec, École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay and Université Paris-Saclay was supported by CNRS and Région Île-de-France. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Ethan R. Elliott, David C. Aveline, Sofia Botsi, James R. Kellogg, James M. Kohel, Norman E. Lay, Kamal Oudrhiri, Leah E. Phillips, Matteo Sbroscia, Robert J. Thompson & Jason R. Williams

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

    Nicholas P. Bigelow

  3. Institut für Quantenphysik and Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology (IQST), Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

    Patrick Boegel & Wolfgang P. Schleich

  4. Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Orsay, France

    Eric Charron, Timothé Estrampes & Annie Pichery

  5. JILA, NIST, and the Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    José P. D’Incao

  6. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Peter Engels & Maren E. Mossman

  7. Institute of Quantum Optics, QUEST-Leibniz Research School, Leibniz University Hannover, Hanover, Germany

    Timothé Estrampes, Naceur Gaaloul, Gabriel Müller, Annie Pichery & Ernst M. Rasel

  8. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bates College, Lewiston, ME, USA

    Nathan Lundblad

  9. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Quantum Technologies, Ulm, Germany

    Matthias Meister

  10. Department of Physics and Biophysics, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Maren E. Mossman

  11. Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Holger Müller

  12. Physics Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Charles A. Sackett

  13. Hagler Institute for Advanced Study, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Wolfgang P. Schleich

  14. Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Wolfgang P. Schleich

  15. Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering (IQSE), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Wolfgang P. Schleich

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  1. Ethan R. Elliott
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Contributions

E.R.E. conducted the experiments, analysed the data and prepared the manuscript. D.C.A. led the development, integration and testing of the upgraded science module. J.M.K. supported development of the atom-interferometry platform and led the characterization of instrument telemetry. J.R.K. led development of ISS hardware installation procedures and operations. L.E.P., M.S. and S.B. supported atom-interferometry data analysis and manuscript preparation. P.B., E.C., T.E., N.G., G.M., M.M. and A.P. modelled the mixture interactions and dual-species interferometers and supported data analysis. P.E. is a Co-Principal Investigator, E.R.E., D.C.A., J.P.D., M.E.M., H.M., E.M.R. and W.P.S. are Co-Investigators and N.P.B., N.L., C.A.S. and J.R.W. are Principal Investigators of the CAL project. The atom interferometer was proposed as a CAL add-on by the CUAS consortium including N.G., M.M., H.M., E.M.R. and W.P.S. under N.P.B. as the Principal Investigator. The inclusion of 39K for studies of few-body physics in space was proposed by Co-Investigator M.E.M. and Co-Principal Investigator P.E., in collaboration with J.P.D., under Principal Investigator E. Cornell. K.O. (CAL Project Manager) and N.E.L. led technical planning across several subsystems during hardware development and science operations. R.J.T. proposed the instrument and gave scientific guidance as CAL Project Scientist from 2018 to 2020 and Cold Atom Program Scientist since 2021. J.R.W. gave scientific guidance and coordinated with Principal Investigators as CAL Project Scientist since 2021 and led the development of the atom-interferometry system. All authors read, edited and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to
Ethan R. Elliott or Jason R. Williams.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 Rabi scan.

Relative population of the excited momentum state 2ħk of a cloud of 41K (left) and 87Rb (right) atoms as a function of the pulse duration of a single Bragg pulse. Each data point and error bar represent the average and standard deviation, respectively, of three independent experimental runs for a chosen pulse duration. The sequence uses the tritone configuration that was also applied in the full interferometer shown in Fig. 4. By fitting a theory model to the dataset, the Rabi frequency and the momentum width of the atom cloud was determined (see Methods).

Extended Data Fig. 2 Detuning scan.

Relative population of the excited momentum state 2ħk of a cloud of 41K (left) and 87Rb (right) atoms as a function of the laser detuning of a single Bragg pulse. Each data point and error bar represent the average and standard deviation, respectively, of 3–6 independent experimental runs for a chosen frequency. The sequence uses a two-tone configuration that delivers more laser power compared with the full interferometer shown in Fig. 4, but can only address a single atomic species in each run. By fitting a theory model to the dataset, the central detuning of the atom cloud and an adjusted Rabi frequency was determined, as explained in Methods. Owing to the difference in laser power, the Rabi frequency obtained from this measurement was not used to model the full interferometer.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Atom-chip layout of science module SM3.

Left, layout of the atom chip in the upgraded science module, designated SM3. The chip surface is a silicon wafer that is anodically bonded to the glass walls of the vacuum chamber to form the top wall. Current-carrying traces on the vacuum side of the chip are made of copper (orange), whereas traces on the ambient side are made of gold (yellow). A 3-mm-diameter antireflection-coated glass window in the centre allows for beam propagation through the chip surface, for both imaging and Bragg interferometry. Right, the traces used in this work. During evaporation, IZ and IH carry 2.4 A and 2.3 A, respectively, in the directions indicated, which combine with bias fields in the x, y and z directions of −9.3, 35.2 and −1.7 G to form a magnetic trap with 87Rb oscillation frequencies of (ωx, ωy, ωz)/2π = (26, 950, 950) Hz. To displace the atom-trap centre to the centre of the window and overlap with the Bragg beam, chip currents are adiabatically ramped to IZ and IH values of 2.1 A and 0.7 A, whereas the bias fields ramp to 0, 1.88 and −2.05 G to give a trap with Rb frequencies of 2π × (10, 25, 20) Hz.

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Elliott, E.R., Aveline, D.C., Bigelow, N.P. et al. Quantum gas mixtures and dual-species atom interferometry in space.
Nature 623, 502–508 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06645-w

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  • Received: 05 June 2023

  • Accepted: 14 September 2023

  • Published: 15 November 2023

  • Issue Date: 16 November 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06645-w

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