Media Contact:
Philip
Bulman , (301) 975-5661 
Physics
Vortices
Imaged in Bose-Einstein Condensates
JILA
researchers (from NIST and the University of Colorado at Boulder)
have created and imaged the first vortices ever seen in Bose-Einstein
condensates, a form of matter first created in 1995 by another
team at the same institute. The condensate is a tiny, spherical
ball of magnetically trapped rubidium gas atoms cooled to less
than a millionth of a degree above absolute zero, in which the
atoms exhibit their quantum mechanical wave-like properties and
coalesce into a kind of “superatom.”
All
along the axis of the ball is a central region of swirling motion
that resembles a miniaturized tornado. The center of the vortex,
like the “eye” of a tornado, is filled with relatively calm, non-rotating
gas. The concept of vortices lies at the heart of scientific understanding
of residual dissipation (i.e., resistance) in nominally viscosity-free
substances such as superfluids and superconductors. Ongoing studies
of JILA’s “captive” vortex will shed light on this complex problem.
The
JILA team reports this achievement in the Sept. 27 issue of Physical
Review Letters. Its members are Michael R. Matthews (CU), Brian
P. Anderson (CU), Paul C. Haljan (CU), David S. Hall (now at Amherst
College), Carl E. Wieman (CU) and Eric A. Cornell (NIST). JILA
is a joint research endeavor of NIST and the University of Colorado
at Boulder.
Media
Contact:
Collier
Smith (Boulder), (303) 497-3198
Technology Partnerships
Time Draws
Near for ATP's Annual Look to the Future
What’s
ahead in technology developments for the next millennium? Some
clues will be found at the 1999 Advanced Technology Program National
Meeting, Nov. 15-17, 1999, in San Jose, Calif. The second annual
meeting will discuss current ATP work in high-risk, high-potential
technologies and explore future R&D opportunities.
R&D
managers, technology leaders and researchers from industry, academia
and government are encouraged to register now for the meeting.
Also invited to participate are reporters and editors whose audiences
want to know more about successfully partnering with the federal
government to accelerate the new ideas, new technologies and new
markets of tomorrow.
This
year’s National Meeting will feature more than 30 workshops in
topics ranging from biosensors, combinatorial chemistry and membrane
separations to photonics manufacturing, submicron machining and
adaptive learning systems. Technical workshops are grouped in
five main themes: biotechnology, chemistry, electronics, information
technology, and materials and manufacturing. A sixth theme is
business and research planning and economic assessment.
The
meeting also will feature general information presentations on
the ATP and a showcase exhibit of a broad array of successful
ATP-sponsored technologies.
Keynote
speaker on Nov. 15 will be Vinton G. Cerf, senior vice president
of Internet architecture and technology for MCI WorldCom. Widely
known as a “Father of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of
the TCP/IP protocol that gave birth to the Internet.
Media
wishing to advance register for the meeting should contact Michael
Baum at the phone number below or email at michael.baum@nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Michael
Baum , (301) 975-2763
Y2K
Last-Minute
Planning, Rapid Response Highlight New Program
Many
small businesses—for one reason or another—are not yet ready for
Y2K. A new business continuity effort can help small businesses
prepare for—and respond to—the year 2000 computer problem, Commerce
Secretary William M. Daley recently announced.
Rapid
response strategies are time-critical, action-oriented, damage
control and recovery procedures that are designed to help businesses
quickly mitigate losses and address Y2K failures. These new resources,
developed by NIST’s Manufacturing
Extension Partnership, are coupled with existing services
such as free technical assistance at the Y2K Help Center for Small
Business and free Y2K Self-Help Tool planning software to offer
small businesses the tools they need to make it through the year
2000 transition.
Small
businesses are advised to:
Plan
ahead. Managers can use the Y2K Jumpstart Kit—available free from
the Y2K Help Center for Small Business—which includes the Y2K
Self-Help Tool, a contingency planning guide and a contingency
planning template.
Get
help. The Y2K Help Center is ready with answers.
Respond
quickly if an unexpected problem occurs. While not a substitute
for prior planning, a new Rapid Response Tool can assist anyone
facing a Y2K failure, and its accompanying Rapid Response Sourcebook
contains information on Y2K problems and fixes for hardware, software
and embedded systems that are used commonly in small businesses
and manufacturers. Both the software and the sourcebook are available
free online at y2khelp.nist.gov.
The
Y2K Help Center for Small Business offers assistance in English
and Spanish from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through
Friday. The Help Center can be reached at 800-Y2K-7557 (925-7557),
by email at y2khelp@nist.gov,
or on the web at y2khelp.nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Anne
Enright Shepherd, (301) 975-4858
Optical Technology
Physicists
Catch Best Waves Ever from Improved SURF III
Upgrades
to the Synchrotron
Ultraviolet Radiation Facility at NIST are yielding greatly
improved calibrations for a wide variety of optic and photonic
devices from satellite instruments to medical lasers and environmental
monitoring devices. The improved NIST synchrotron facility is
designed to be the “nation’s standard light bulb,” a resource
for optical calibrations for U.S. industry as well as government
and academic researchers.
The
facility, known as SURF III (which at more than 180 tons of solid
steel may be the world’s heaviest “light bulb”) soon will be helping
manufacturers improve a variety of processes. SURF III replaces
SURF II, which served as the national synchrotron radiation standard
from 1974 to 1998. Synchrotron radiation is the light emitted
by electrons as they are propelled around a donut-shaped ring
in a strong magnetic field. The light emitted from SURF III covers
the infrared, visible, ultraviolet and extends into the X-ray
region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is exceptionally pure,
and scientists can tune it to a desired wavelength to probe and
measure a wide variety of materials and devices.
Measurements
at SURF III will be much more accurate due to several improvements
in the magnetic field, which is more uniform and much stronger
than previously available in SURF II. Since variations in the
magnetic field are extraordinarily small (a difference of about
100 times smaller than the variations of the field in SURF II’s
magnet), electrons in the storage ring move in nearly perfect
circular orbits. The result is significant improvement in the
uncertainty of irradiance measurements at any given wavelength.
Additionally, SURF III has two more beamlines than SURF II and
a new accelerator control system.
More
details on SURF III are available on the World Wide Web at www.physics.nist.gov/SURF.
For technical information, contact Andrew Hamilton, (301) 975-6381,
andrew.hamilton@nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Linda
Joy , (301) 975-4403
Administration
ATP Director
Lura Powell to Retire
Lura
Powell, director of the NIST Advanced
Technology Program, has announced that she will retire from
federal service as of Sept. 30. Powell is taking advantage of
a voluntary early retirement option that will expire on that day
to pursue other career interests.
A
chemist, Powell joined the then-National Bureau of Standards in
1972 in the Center for Analytical Chemistry. She held several
research and management positions in the laboratory (now called
the Chemical Science and Technology
Laboratory) before being assigned to establish the NIST Biotechnology
Division in 1991. She became ATP’s director in 1995, managing
the program’s wide-ranging portfolio of cost-shared industrial
R&D projects.
A
member of the Board of Directors of the American Chemical Society
since 1997, Powell’s honors include the Department of Commerce
Gold Medal for her leadership of the Advanced Technology Program
and the Silver Medal for building the biotechnology research program.
Media
Contact:
Michael
Baum , (301) 975-2763
Quality
Baldrige
Teams Will Examine 10 for 1999 Award
Teams
of business, education, health care and quality experts will visit
10 organizations—three manufacturers, two service companies, two
small businesses, two education organizations and one health care
organization—as part of the application process for the 1999 Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award. Fifty-two organizations applied
for the award. This is the first year that not-for-profit education
and health care organizations are eligible to apply for the award.
Starting
in October, site-team members will verify information in the application,
examine each organization’s records, conduct interviews, and clarify
any issues or questions raised by earlier reviews. A private-sector
panel of judges will review the site-visit findings and recommend
award recipients to the Secretary of Commerce. All 52 applicants
receive an extensive feedback report highlighting strengths and
opportunities for improvement.
Baldrige
award recipients for 1999 will be announced in November.
Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko , (301) 975-2767
Editor:
Michael Newman
HTML conversion: Crissy
Wines
Last updated: September 27, 1999
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