Observation of ultracold atomic bubbles in orbital microgravity
Ryan A. Carollo, David C. Aveline, Brendan Rhyno, Smitha Vishveshwara,, Courtney Lannert, Joseph D. Murphree, Ethan R. Elliott, Jason R. Williams,, Robert J. Thompson, Nathan Lundblad

TL;DR
This paper reports the first observations of ultracold atomic bubbles in space, revealing new quantum phenomena and thermodynamics in a gravity-free environment, advancing orbital microgravity quantum-gas physics.
Contribution
It demonstrates the creation and observation of ultracold atomic bubbles in space, exploring their configurations, thermodynamics, and shell dynamics, a novel achievement in quantum gas research.
Findings
Observation of various bubble configurations and sizes.
Demonstration of significant cooling during inflation.
Partial ultracold film coverage on bubble traps.
Abstract
Significant leaps in the understanding of quantum systems have been driven by the exploration of geometry, topology, dimensionality, and interactions with ultracold atomic ensembles. A system where atoms evolve while confined on an ellipsoidal surface represents a heretofore unexplored geometry and topology. Realizing such an ultracold bubble system (potentially Bose-Einstein condensed) has areas of interest including quantized-vortex flow respecting topological constraints imposed by closed surfaces, new collective modes, and self-interference via free bubble expansion. Large ultracold bubbles, created by inflating smaller condensates, directly tie into Hubble-analog expansion physics. Here, we report observations from the NASA Cold Atom Lab facility aboard the International Space Station of bubbles of ultracold atoms created using a radiofrequency-dressing protocol. We observe a…
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