An atom interferometer can make ultra-precise measurements of gravity Tristan Valenzuela/RAL Space/IQO Hannover
Extremely cold atoms have been used to measure gravity more precisely than we thought possible, beating a limit that stems from quantum weirdness.
Ultracold atoms are some of the most sensitive force sensors. They are useful for such work because at the coldest possible temperature – absolute zero – they take on quantum properties that are extremely susceptible to pushes and pulls in their environment. But that sensitivity can be muddled by the small fluctuations, or “quantum noiseâ€, in the atoms’ states.
