THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amidst soaring temperatures in Kerala, scientists are working to create one of the coldest known places in Asia. Such a full-fledged facility, a new Cold Atom Lab at ISRO inertial systems Unit (IISU) which will be the first of its kind in Asia was inaugurated by ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar here on Friday. It also marks the silver jubilee year or completion of 25 years of IISU.

Scientists at IISU’s Cold Atom Lab (CAL) use laser beams to optically cool the fundamental particles or atoms of rubidium - a silvery-white chemical element, to extremely cold or ultra-cold temperatures. With a laser interferometer, the laser beams are split into two, one of which moves clockwise and the other anti-clockwise and meet at a point. The wave nature of the atoms leads to interference pattern when two waves carrying energy meet up and overlap, IISU director Dr.PP Mohanlal told TOI. The atoms are then magnetically trapped and radio waves are used to cool the atoms 100 times lower. The radiofrequency radiation slices away the hottest atoms from the trap so that only the coldest remain.

Existence of such super cold atoms at extremely cold temperatures was predicted in the 1920s by Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein, but they could not prove it due to lack of technology. At such extremely cold temperatures, atoms become synchronised and at Absolute zero which is -273.15 Celsius or Zero degree Kelvin, atoms are almost motionless with zero-point energy.

To study this phenomenon of super cold atoms called Bose-Einstein condensate, NASA developed CAL and were able to cool the gases down to about a millionth of a degree Kelvin above absolute zero, the point at which atoms would be close to motionless. It plans for its launch to space by August 2017.

While, ISRO makes a humble beginning with its first Cold Atom Lab built at a modest Rs 1.5 crore and the lab is in a small room of 15 feet/ 20 feet and is about 25 feet wide, IISU director said. It is much less compared to over Rs 100 crore spent by the developed countries to develop CAL, IISU officials said.

“It is a complex technology to master cooling and at IISU’s CAL we have already achieved the feat to create cold temperatures up to 300 micro Kelvin,” Mohanan said. The facility can be used primarily to measure the earth’s gravity gradient, to detect earth quake as the instrument is highly sensitive to detect one feet grain movement. The measurements done using this CAL can detect the change in gravity with ultra-high precision, of the order of 1 part of a lakh per centimetre.

CAL facility can be used for earth science studies, application in Geophysical research such as oil and mineral explorations, for ultra-high navigation system of space launches, for inter-planetary missions and other deep space missions with greater accuracy in about two years. While the launch of IISU’s CAL mission to space will be possible in about five years, he said. It will also help in devising high-end gyroscopic sensors for flights. It will help in autonomous navigation and can overcome limitations of radio jamming in radio satellite based navigation system, he said.

