Chinese scientists using the China space station’s ultracold-atom physics experiment module cooled a rubidium atom cloud to an effective temperature of 9.7 picokelvin with an all-optical trap, about 14 orders of magnitude below room temperature, and sustained observation for 7 seconds, setting a new low-temperature record. The experiment was led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Space Application Engineering and Technology Center with Peking University and the CAS Shanghai Institute of Optics a

Chinese scientists using the China space station’s ultracold-atom physics experiment module cooled a rubidium atom cloud to an effective temperature of 9.7 picokelvin with an all-optical trap, about 14 orders of magnitude below room temperature, and sustained observation for 7 seconds, setting a new low-temperature record. The experiment was led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Space Application Engineering and Technology Center with Peking University and the CAS Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics; results published in Science.