Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Quantum matter orbits Earth

Exotic ultracold gases called Bose–Einstein condensates have been created on board the International Space Station. This feat is not only a technological landmark, but could also improve our understanding of fundamental physics.
  1. Maike D. Lachmann

    1. Maike D. Lachmann is at the Institute of Quantum Optics, QUEST-Leibniz Research School, Leibniz University Hannover, 30167 Hanover, Germany.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Ernst M. Rasel

    1. Ernst M. Rasel is at the Institute of Quantum Optics, QUEST-Leibniz Research School, Leibniz University Hannover, 30167 Hanover, Germany.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

States of matter known as Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) were first observed 25 years ago1,2. Since then, these quantum objects have become a key tool in the study of quantum physics, and they are routinely produced in hundreds of laboratories around the world. Writing in Nature, Aveline et al.3 report the generation of rubidium BECs aboard the International Space Station, which is in orbit around Earth. The condition of perpetual free fall on the station offers new methods for probing BECs and for making a wide range of high-precision measurements.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Nature 582, 186-187 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01653-6

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 17 June 2020: This article gave an incorrect definition of bosonic atoms. They should have been defined as atoms for which a quantum property known as spin is an integer.

References

  1. Anderson, M. H., Ensher, J. R., Matthews, M. R., Wieman, C. E. & Cornell, E. A. Science 269, 198–201 (1995).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Davis, K. B. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 3969–3973 (1995).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Aveline, D. C. et al. Nature 582, 193–197 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bose, S. N. Z. Phys. 26, 178–181 (1924).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Einstein, A. Phys.-Math. Klasse 1, 3–14 (1925).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hess, H. F. Phys. Rev. B 34, 3476–3479 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Jenkins, F. A. & Segrè, E. Phys. Rev. 55, 52–58 (1939).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Lundblad, N. et al. npj Microgravity 5, 30 (2019).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Elliott, E. R., Krutzik, M. C., Williams, J. R., Thompson, R. J. & Aveline, C. npj Microgravity 4, 16 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Becker, D. et al. Nature 562, 391–395 (2018).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Pletser, V. et al. Adv. Space Res. 56, 1003–1013 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. van Zoest, T. et al. Science 328, 1540–1543 (2010).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links