Apparatus for quantum-mixture research in microgravity.

Authors

Baptist Piest, Jonas Böhm, Timothé Estrampes, Priyanka Guggilam, Annie Pichery, Paweł Arciszewski, Wolfgang Bartosch, Sören Boles, Klaus Döringshoff, Michael Elsen, Ortwin Hellmig, Christian Kürbis, Dorthe Leopoldt, Gabriel Müller, Alexandros Papakonstantinou, Christian Reichelt, André Wenzlawski, Thijs Wendrich, Éric Charron, Christoph Lotz, Achim Peters, Klaus Sengstock, Andreas Wicht, Patrick Windpassinger, Jens Grosse, Naceur Gaaloul, Ernst Maria Rasel

Published in

Nature communications. Volume 17. Issue 1. Jul 28, 2026. Epub Jul 28, 2026.

Abstract

Experiments with ultracold quantum gases are a rapidly advancing research field with many applications in fundamental physics and quantum technology. Here, we report on a high-flux generation of Bose-Einstein condensate mixtures of ⁴¹K and ⁸⁷Rb, using a fully integrated sounding rocket setup. We compare the release and the free expansion of the quantum mixtures obtained with the apparatus placed on ground or in free fall in an Einstein-Elevator. The release dynamics are governed by the intra- and interspecies interactions as well as the decaying magnetic field during the release. The latter can be minimized by a dedicated switch-off protocol of the trap generating currents where an exact model enabled us to characterize the interaction effects. Our results establish a new benchmark for generating ultracold mixtures on mobile platforms, with direct relevance for future experiments on interacting quantum gases and tests of the equivalence principle in space.

PMID:
42521691
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 29 Jul 2026.

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