Scientists achieve record-breaking low temperature on China's space station, paving the way for new physics experiments

November 6, 2026 report Scientists achieve record-breaking low temperature on China's space station, paving the way for new physics experiments Krystal Kasal Author Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Robert Egan Senior Editor Matter starts to behave differently at extremely low temperatures, creating conditions ideal for studying quantum physics and new states of matter. Now, researchers from China have achieved a new low-temperature record aboard their Tiangong space station. Their research, recently published in Science, might lead to a new generation of experiments in quantum physics and precision measurements in space. A quest for the lowest temperature At temperatures near absolute zero, atoms can form a kind of cloud, called a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC), that behaves as a shared quantum wave. BECs are valuable for physics research. The authors of the new study describe them as "versatile platforms for quantum simulation." The colder atoms get, the more they slow down, allowing scientists to take better measurements. This has led to a quest for lower and lower temperatures. But achieving extremely low temperatures near absolute zero can be difficult. Gravity creates restrictions by making atoms sag in the trap. Magnetic levitation has been used to counteract gravity, but it creates a new issue by forcing atoms to have the same internal spin state. Optical traps use laser beams and offer more flexible control, but they had not directly produced a condensate under microgravity conditions before the new study. The previous record low temperature was achieved using a drop tower to induce a free-fall state and reached an equivalent temperature of 38 picokelvin (a tiny fraction of one kelvin). Another space-based experiment at the International Space Station's Cold Atom Laboratory reached 52 picokelvin using magnetic trapping and matter-wave lensing. Scientists use the equivalent temperature, which describes the cloud's expansion energy and velocity, since an ordinary thermodynamic temperature is not practical for these kinds of experiments. The team involved in the new study believed they could reach an even lower temperature by leveraging optical dipole traps (ODTs), which use focused laser beams to hold neutral atoms and microscopic particles in place. Doing this in space would allow for a microgravity environment that is not limited to short periods of time like drop-tower experiments. A new record using lasers in space To reach their goal, the team cooled around 20,000 rubidium atoms with laser cooling and evaporative cooling, which removes higher-energy atoms, to create a condensate in an ODT. A magnetic-field gradient also improved the initial cooling, producing a condensate less sensitive to magnetic disturbances. They then transferred the atoms into a wider optical trap and weakened its confinement to reduce expansion energy. Then, they measured the cloud's expansion in three dimensions. The measured equivalent temperature was 9.7 picokelvin—four times lower than the previous record. The team notes that the uncertainty around 9.7 picokelvin extends from 7.0 to 12.9 picokelvin. The free expansion time—the amount of time they were able to track the expansion—was 7 seconds, far longer than the 2-second free expansion time in the drop-tower experiment or the 1-second free expansion time aboard the International Space Station. What comes next? The ability to conduct experiments at these new record-low temperatures and make measurements in longer windows of time opens up new opportunities. The team says that adjustable-volume traps could also increase the number of atoms available for experiments. Prospects include studies of unusual quantum states using carefully shaped laser fields and space-based atom interferometers. The study authors describe the new system as a powerful tool. They write, "First, it aims to enable quantum simulation for exploring low-temperature physics in the unique environment of space. This includes the study of exotic quantum phases, such as investigating the decay of Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid order in one-dimensional bosonic systems and probing the properties of Bose-glass or fractal Mott phases in disordered potentials. "A second possible objective is the construction of a space-based atom Mach-Zehnder interferometer, with the potential to perform precision tests of fundamental principles, such as the equivalence principle." Written for you by our author Krystal Kasal, edited by Gaby Clark, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You'll get an ad-free account as a thank-you. Publication details Wei Xiong et al., Quantum gases below 10 picokelvin in space, Science (2026). DOI: 10.1126/science.aea5324 Journal information: Science © 2026 Science X Network