Newsroom
What are Cold Atoms?
Cold Atoms are atoms cooled to very low temperatures, typically using laser cooling and other trapping techniques, to reduce their thermal motion. This creates highly controlled atomic systems that can be manipulated and measured with exceptional precision.
Cold atoms are fundamental to quantum technologies, where their controlled motion and long coherence times enable applications such as quantum sensing, gravimetry, atom interferometry, and precision time and frequency measurements.
HOW Cold Atoms Work
Cold atoms are produced by reducing the thermal motion of atoms using carefully controlled optical and electromagnetic techniques. Lower atomic velocities make the atoms easier to trap, manipulate, and interrogate with high precision.
Laser cooling
Laser light is tuned to interact with the atoms in a way that reduces their velocity and therefore their temperature.
Atom trapping
Additional optical or magnetic fields can confine the cooled atoms, creating a controlled environment for further manipulation.
Quantum manipulation
The cold atomic ensemble can then be prepared and manipulated using precisely controlled laser pulses, enabling measurements based on atomic transitions and matter-wave interference.
