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Frontier Physics • Mar 8, 2026 • 4 min read

Milligram torsional pendulum cools to 240 microkelvins for quantum-gravity testbeds

An ISTA team reports a 1-milligram torsional pendulum optically shifted to 18 Hz and cooled to 240 microkelvins, moving a key quantum-gravity hardware regime from theory target toward experimental platform.

What to watch

  • 1-milligram pendulum operated at 18 Hz and cooled from room temperature to 240 microkelvins.
  • Reported torque sensitivity reached 1.2 x 10^-18 N m Hz^-1/2 at the milligram scale.
  • ERC-backed QuHAMP funding gives the platform runway through May 2028.
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