We can now freeze atoms to nearly absolute zero using static magnets, ditching the complex flickering electronics usually required.
April 14, 2026
Original Paper
Sub-Doppler laser cooling and optical transport of cesium with static magnetic fields
arXiv · 2604.08876
The Takeaway
It achieves temperatures as low as 17 micro-Kelvin using a simplified, "always-on" magnetic field setup. This makes building portable quantum computers and high-precision atomic clocks much easier, cheaper, and more reliable.
From the abstract
Laser cooling of alkali atoms typically requires time-varying magnetic fields, introducing unwanted coupling between atom preparation and coherent operations. Here we demonstrate sub-Doppler laser cooling and optical transport of alkali atoms in a fully static magnetic-field configuration. Using a blue-detuned Type-II magneto-optical trap (MOT) operating on the closed $F=3 \rightarrow F'=2$ transition of the D2 line in cesium, we achieve temperatures of 17(1) $\mu$K without changing the magnetic