Key facts
- Researchers used laser-based traps to hold 20,000 rubidium atoms and slow their motion, lowering their effective temperature.
- The atoms were packed into a cloud smaller than a grain of sand, according to the primary report.
- The result was published November 5, 2026 in the journal Science, per the Science News account.
- The primary report said the temperature was below 10 trillionths of a degree above absolute zero.
Scientists from Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences cooled about 20,000 rubidium atoms aboard China's Tiangong space station to roughly 10 picokelvins, or 10 trillionths of a kelvin, according to a Science News report of results published November 5, 2026 in the journal Science. The atoms formed a Bose-Einstein condensate, a quantum state of matter.
The primary report said the atoms were packed into a cloud smaller than a grain of sand and chilled to less than 10 trillionths of a degree above absolute zero, below records held by US and German experiments. It said the work could support ultra-precise space sensors for mineral surveys, climate monitoring and tests of Einstein's theory of gravity.
Science News reported that the team used laser-based traps to contain the atoms and reduce their motion. At the atomic level, temperature is tied to motion, and in systems of cold atoms scientists define an effective temperature by how slowly the atoms spread apart when allowed to expand.
A separate Xinhua report dated November 5, 2026 described other experiments on the space station's extravehicular exposure platform, including in-orbit tests of a stainless magnesium alloy and simulated lunar soil bricks. It did not address the cold-atom result.