Quantum gases below 10 picokelvin in space.

An optical dipole trap Bose-Einstein condensate on the China Space Station reaches an equivalent temperature below 10 pK, with 2.0×10^4 atoms and 7.0 s free expansion time.

• Why it matters: Ultracold platforms need very low temperatures and long free evolution to enable fundamental physics tests and atom interferometry, but optical dipole traps had not yet achieved quantum degeneracy in microgravity.
• What they did: The team prepared an ODT-based Bose-Einstein condensate aboard the China Space Station and measured its equivalent temperature and free expansion time after release.
• The result: The record-low temperature in space supports a new generation of ODT-based quantum simulation and precision measurement experiments under microgravity conditions.

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