Quantum Optics for Space Platforms

Experimental physicists generally prize having complete control over the laboratory environment above all else. In our quest for ever-more precise results, even the slightest stray variable can mean ruin. So, as our team of quantum physicists cruised through the German countryside last May to track a weather balloon, we encountered what would normally be considered a worst-case scenario: The free-flying balloon carried a quantum optics experiment that had reached an altitude of 37.5 km and was now falling to the ground at a speed of 6 m/s with the aid of a parachute, and recovery was based on our ability to track faint radio beacons.