CAL

David Barrero
González

CAL
David Barrero González
Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro

September 28th 2019

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Cold Atom Lab David Barrero
González

I Is an experiment being developed aboard of the ISS

(Intertational Space Station). It was launched in May 21,
2018

Figure: Cold Atom laboratory

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

Figure: Workers introducing CAL into Cygnus spacecraft

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Objetives David Barrero
González
I The main purpose of this experiment is to create a Bose
Einstein condensate under microgravity conditions.

Figure: Velocity distribution of the atoms along x and z axes.

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Bose Einstein Condensate David Barrero
González

I It’s a rare state of matter, which can only exist only in

conditions of extremely low temperatures given the
equation:
~2 n2/3
Tc ≈ 3.3125  1K
mkB
where ~ is the Dirac’s constant, n the number of particles,
m the mass per boson and kB the Boltzmann’s constant.
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Obtention David Barrero
González

I It’s obtained by ultra cooling of a cloud of atoms (e.g.

Rubidium) with lasers beams and a Magneto Optical Trap

Figure: MOT
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Applications David Barrero
González

I Quantum computing
I High precision instruments
I Superconductivity

Figure: Quantum computer

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Advantages of CAL David Barrero
González

I Mean life of 10 seconds

I No astronaut assistance
I 6.5 hours of experimentation a day
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References David Barrero
González

I https:
//www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7202
I https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov/
I https://phys.org/news/
2018-10-bose-einstein-condensate-space.html
I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose\T1\
textendashEinstein_condensate