| Key Achievements |
Realization of cold atom gyroscope in space in 2024
Our team has developed a space-based dual-component rubidium isotope cold atom interferometer (npj Microgravity 9: 58, 2023). The device was launched aboard the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft on November 12, 2022, and subsequently installed in the high microgravity science experiment cabinet of the Tianhe core module of the China Space Station. On December 30, 2024, the China Manned Space Engineering Office released the《China Space Station Science Research and Application Progress Report (2024)》to the public, selecting 34 representative research achievements and phased progress. Among them was the research on space cold atom interferometry gyroscope technology. This work marks the first demonstration of an in-orbit cold atom gyroscope utilizing an atom interferometer on the China Space Station (Natl. Sci. Rev., 12: nwaf012, 2025).
Physical image of the space cold atom interferometer in orbit
Astronauts conducting suspended cold atom interference experiments inside the Chinese Space Station
Coherently forming a single molecule in 2020
Constructing the simplest molecule from two atoms and achieving coherent conversion between atoms and molecules represents the most fundamental step in matter control. However, limited by decoherence factors, this had not been realized until now. Our team proposed a novel method utilizing the coupling between atomic spin and the relative motional wave function. Ultimately, we achieved the coherent synthesis of individual ultracold ^87Rb-^85Rb molecules in the ground state of a trapping potential within an optical tweezer, observing long-lived coherent Rabi oscillations between the two-atom pair and the single molecule (Science 370(6514), 331-335, 2020).
The editors of Science highlighted this work, stating that it "demonstrates full control over both the internal and external degrees of freedom in an atom-molecule system." Professor Tarbutt from Imperial College London, citing this achievement, remarked that "the controlled synthesis of a molecule from two individual atoms stands as a prominent example in the field of ultracold chemistry experiments."
Schemes of SMC and molecular association in a tight OT.
Realizaed two-atom sysytem in 2015
Schematic diagram of inelastic collisions of heteronuclear diatomic molecules
We successfully achieved controlled cold collisions between a 87Rb atom and a 85Rb atom in a micron-scale optical trap through laser manipulation(Nat. Commun. 6: 7803, 2015).
Test weak equivalence principle at E-8 level in 2015
Schematic diagram of testing the equivalence principle using two-component atoms
We made significant progress in testing the equivalence principle with microscopic particles. They proposed and realized a novel four-wave double Raman (4WDR) diffraction scheme for cold atom interferometry. Utilizing a dual-species atom interferometer, they conducted experiments to test the Weak Equivalence Principle, achieving a precision of 10⁻⁸ (Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 013004, 2015).