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Physics
NIST Scientists
Demonstrate Highly Directional Atom Laser
Atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate can be manipulated with light
to form a highly directional atom laser, NIST physicists
reported in the March 12, 1999, issue of Science. The NIST device represents a significant
step forward from the first atom laser demonstrated in 1997 at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in that its atoms stream forward in a chosen direction as a
very narrow beam. The direction of the earlier MIT atom laser beam was determined by
gravity and had a big spread due to the tendency of the atoms to repel each other.
“The atom laser is as
different from an ordinary atom beam as an optical laser is from a flashlight. It now
gives you for atom beams what you have had with laser light,” says Nobel Laureate
William D. Phillips, leader of the Laser Cooling and Trapping
Group in the NIST Physics Laboratory.
Although practical uses of the
atom laser could be years away, scientists are excited about the NIST invention and its
potential. Scientists anticipate being able to create holographic images producing any
picture or pattern desired on a flat surface. This eventually may lead to improvements in
lithography, the manufacturing technique for making exquisitely small features on computer
chips.
For more information and to see
images of the atom laser, go to the NIST Physics Laboratory’s news page on the World
Wide Web at www.physics.nist.gov/atomoptics.
Media Contact:
Linda Joy, (301) 975-4403 
Facilities
Doors Opened to New
Chemistry Building and NIST's Future
NIST took its first step
into the 21st century with the March 8, 1999, dedication
of the new Advanced Chemical Sciences Laboratory
in Gaithersburg, Md. The $75 million, 18,588-square-meter
(200,000-square-foot) ACSL— the first major construction
in nearly 40 years at the Maryland site—was built
to house the research programs of NIST’s Chemical
Science and Technology Laboratory.
Research by CSTL scientists long
has benefited our nation’s health and environment, as well as industrial productivity
and international trade. The new state-of-the-art ACSL features advanced designs that will
help NIST meet 21st-century needs for accurate chemical measurements, standards and
methods used for pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical diagnosis, pollution monitoring and
clean up, nutritional analysis and other chemical industries/sciences.
Among the features of the ACSL
are 162 laboratory modules that can be reconfigured to meet special needs, 131 office
modules, precise temperature and humidity control, high-capacity ventilation systems, an
uninterruptible power supply, a high-purity water system, five clean rooms, two cold
rooms, five non-metallic labs and advanced data transmission wiring.
Designer/builder for the ACSL was
The Austin Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Construction began in February 1996. Construction
management was provided by CRSS Constructors Inc. (a member of the Jacobs Engineering
Group) of Arlington, Va.
Media Contact:
Michael E. Newman, (301) 975-3025
Electromagnetic Technology
NIST Demonstrates
Field Mapping with MRF Microscopy
Magnetic resonance force phenomena are the
basis for the most accurate measurements of magnetic fields. However, current MRF probes
are relatively large in size and can only measure the value of fairly uniform fields
generated by macroscopic magnets.
Researchers in NIST’s Electromagnetic Technology Division, Boulder,
Colo., have demonstrated the use of an MRF microscope in high-resolution quantitative
magnetic field mapping. The newly developed adaptation of MRF microscopy offers the high
sensitivity to serve as a calibrated, room-temperature, high-resolution magnetic field
probe; both the spatial and field resolutions are sufficient enough to characterize
magnetic read and write heads, which have typical magnetic pole lengths on the order of
one micrometer and a gap spacing of 100-200 nanometers.
With further work, this technique
may have applications for the data storage industry, including the quantitative
characterization of magnetic structures such as magnetic read/write heads and magnetic
data bits. The challenge now for the Boulder group is to improve overall sensitivity by
operating in a higher field gradient with more sensitive
cantilevers.
A paper, no. 7-99, describing the
NIST work is available from Sarabeth Harris,
MS104, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80303-3337, (303) 497-3237.
Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-3246
Information Security
1999 Conference to
Feature IBM Internet Head
Computer experts from around the globe will
converge in the Washington, D.C., area this fall to address the hottest information
security issues of the approaching millennium.
The 22nd National Information Systems Security
Conference, co-sponsored by NIST and the National Security Agency, is expected to
attract more than 1,600 participants. The annual conference is one of the largest and most
significant computer security gatherings in the world. Expected to draw a wide range of
industry and academic participants as well as government experts, the conference will take
place at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va., Oct. 18-21, 1999.
Panel discussions and papers will
cover a diverse set of topics such as electronic commerce, Internet security, research and
development, security testing and evaluation, and public key infrastructure technology.
Conference goals include educating participants about major information security issues
and provoking debate and action on these issues.
Irving Wladawsky-Berger, general
manager of the Internet Division at International Business Machines Corp., will be the
keynote speaker. Wladawsky-Berger leads IBM’s Internet and network computing strategy
and coordinates its implementation across the company.
More information about the
conference is available at http://csrc.nist.gov/nissc.
Details on registration will be added at a future date.
Media Contact:
Philip Bulman, (301) 975-5661
Customer Service
NIST Chemistry Team
Earns Hammer Award
The Gas Metrology Team of NIST’s Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory recently
received one of Vice President Al Gore’s Hammer Awards for excellence in customer
service by government workers. The group found a way to decrease the time to develop and
produce certified gas standards for industry from 1-1/2 years to five months. These
standards are used for calibrating instruments used to assess air quality and confirm the
accuracy of measurements made on emissions from autos, industrial stacks, etc.
Members of the team are Franklin
R. Guenther (Group Leader), Pamela M. Chu, William D.
Dorko, Terry L. Green, Patricia C.
Johnson, Terri
S. Kroft, Walter R.
Miller Jr., Gerald D.
Mitchell, George C.
Rhoderick and William
J. Thorn III.
Media Contact:
Linda Joy, (301) 975-4403
MEP
Georgia Bath
Fixtures Firm Cleans Up With Center's Advice
MarCraft Inc., a Douglas, Ga., manufacturer
of marble bathroom fixtures, had an antiquated material handling system that wasn’t
keeping pace with the company’s increasing customer orders. Enter the Georgia Manufacturing Extension
Partnership, an affiliate of the nationwide NIST
Manufacturing Extension Partnership of assistance centers for smaller manufacturers.
A GaMEP specialist helped
MarCraft management customize an automated conveyor system with off-the-shelf components
for $70,000 less than other systems the firm had considered. This allowed the company to
stay within budget and proceed with a planned expansion.
The conveyor permits better
utilization of MarCraft employees, saving $50,000 in annual labor costs. More importantly,
the greater capacity afforded by the system means MarCraft can now handle up to $2 million
in additional orders.
The NIST MEP is a nationwide
network of manufacturing extension centers helping smaller manufacturers in all 50 states,
the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Smaller
manufacturers can call (800) MEP-4-MFG (637-4634) to reach the MEP center serving their
region or check out the MEP World Wide Web site at www.mep.nist.gov. For more information on GaMEP, contact Lincoln Bates, (404) 894-6091.
Media Contact:
Jan Kosko, (301) 975-2767
Awards
Han Receives High
Polymers Physics Prize
NIST Fellow Charles C. Han, a scientist in
the Polymers Division of NIST’s Materials Science
and Engineering Laboratory, will receive the 1999 High Polymer Physics Prize, a
prestigious honor awarded by the American Physical Society. The prize, which consists of
$10,000 and a certificate, will be awarded to Han during next week’s APS Centennial
Meeting in Atlanta. He will present a lecture on his research during a symposium organized
in his honor.
Han specializes in using light
and neutron scattering to analyze the “phase separation” of polymer mixtures, or
so-called polymer blends. During the processing of a polymer, phase boundary and phase
morphology are often changed. These changes can have profound effects on the overall
properties and the performance of the blend material. Therefore, by controlling the phase
separation of polymer mixtures, materials such as skid-resistant tread rubbers for
automobile tires can be tailored to possess specific properties.
Han joined the NIST Polymers Division in 1974 and became a Fellow in 1995, the same year he was awarded a Senior
Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. He has received
the Bronze Medal and Stratton Award from NIST and the
Silver and Gold Medals from the Commerce Department. In
1984, he received the Dillon Medal from the American Physical Society’s Division of
High Polymer Physics.
Media Contact:
Emil Venere, (301) 975-5745
| Editor’s
Note: The March 1, 1999, NIST Update item titled “Report Recommends More
Focused, Less Burdensome FQA” mistakenly stated that a report to Congress recommended
that the Fastener Quality Act be amended to cover “only high-strength
fasteners—those possessing a minimum tensile strength of 830 millipascals
(120,000 pounds per square inch), the generally accepted level for
‘high-strength’ steel fasteners throughout the industry.” The statement
should have read 830 megapascals. NIST Update regrets any inconvenience
this error may have caused. |
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