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Projects/Programs

Displaying 51 - 75 of 181

Compact strontium optical clock with integrated photonics

Ongoing
The development of a liter-scale apparatus to produce Sr, would enable highly accurate, transportable optical clocks based on their ultra-narrow optical transition. However, straightforward miniaturization of the traditional optical infrastructure necessary to implement multi-step laser cooling has

Compact Ultrastable Optical References

Ongoing
At the heart of any stable laser is a reference cavity resonator. By locking a laser’s frequency to a reference cavity mode, the laser inherits the resonator’s stability. These stable lasers can then be used in various sensing and spectroscopy applications, including in optical atomic clocks and

Comparisons (Archive): International Comparison of Tc-99 Activity

Completed
Measurements by NIST on the solution were performed by three methods: viz., liquid scintillation (LS) standardizations (with 3H-standard efficiency tracing); with triple-to-double-coincidence ratio (TDCR) method; and with by 4ηβ(LS)-γ(NaI) live-timed anticoincidence (LTAC) measurements. Impurities

Comparisons (Archive): International Comparison of Pu-241 Activity

Completed
Quantitation of 241Pu in low-level waste and environmental samples is of interest because 241Pu is a precursor of other transuranium nuclides that have longer half-lives, greater environmental mobility, and greater toxicity. In addition, 241Pu is the most difficult of the plutonium isotopes to

Connecting Quantum Electronics and Photonics using Silicon Color Centers

Ongoing
Overview: In the first decades of the semiconductor electronics industry, color centers were ubiquitous in silicon. However, through iterative refinement of materials’ processing and spectroscopy methods, color centers are virtually non-existent in commercial silicon today, and leveraging their

Cryogenic Photonic Interconnects

Ongoing
Microwave photonics, where optical systems are employed to transport, filter, generate, or otherwise process microwave and millimeter wave signals, takes advantage of the large bandwidth, low loss, and low noise of optical systems, as well as the long reach of optical fiber interconnects. We are

Degradation of extreme-ultraviolet optics

Ongoing
The primary degradation process in EUVL tools and satellite instruments begins by the adsorption of water or carbonaceous molecules from the vacuum environment onto the optic surface. The optic is damaged if the molecule undergoes photon-stimulated decomposition before it can (reversibly) thermally

Deployable Doppler Thermometry

Ongoing
Accurate temperature measurements are essential to many industrial processes, including petrochemical or pharmaceutical production and nuclear power generation. Typical process control thermometers, such as resistance temperature detectors, are known to drift over time and degrade when subject to

Designing the Nanoworld: Nanostructure, Nanodevices, and Nano-optics

Ongoing
Developing and exploiting nanodevices for quantum and nanotechnologies requires nanoscale and atomic scale modeling of ultrasmall structures, devices, their operation, and their response to probes. Key challenges of understanding physics at the quantum/classical interface and measurement at the

Documentary Standards: ANSI/IEEE N42.42 Standard

Completed
The ANSI/IEEE N42.42 standard specifies the XML data format that shall be used for both required and optional data to be made available by radiation measurement instruments. The performance requirements for these types of instruments are described in other standards. The output from these

Dynamic EUV Imaging and Spectroscopy for Microelectronics

Ongoing
Collaborations with industry leaders have led us to develop new measurement techniques to improve our understanding thermal transport, spin transport, and nanoscopic (and interfacial) material properties in active device structures. Such capability requires the ability to measure these properties at

Dynamic Pressure

Ongoing
Measurement Platform: We are developing a photonics based dynamic pressure measurement platform that will enable traceable, accurate measurement of dynamic pressure. To this end we are developing fast scanning laser absorption spectroscopy techniques that enable rapid measurement of pressure

Electroacoustic Wave-Based Flow Sensors

Ongoing
As part of our NIST-on-a-Chip efforts, we are developing strategies to measure local flow in microfluidic systems. This project will develop label-free flow sensors using surface acoustic waves embedded in microfluidic devices. In this approach, an electromechanical transducer is placed on a

Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) Facility

Ongoing
The NIST EBIT is a table-top device which can produce matter in excess of ten million degrees Kelvin. At these temperatures, even the heaviest atoms shed most of their electrons. The highly charged ions which result are trapped by a configuration of electric and magnetic fields in an ultrahigh

Electron-Beam Irradiation of Solar Cells

Ongoing
NIST irradiates solar cells that are manufactured by leading developers of high-efficiency solar photovoltaic cells for space applications. As part of the space-qualification process, the performance of these cells in a space environment must be validated. This validation process includes the

Electronic Biophysical Measurements

Ongoing
We develop measurements that leverage electronic signal transduction using FETs to maximize sensitivity and improve the resolution of biomolecular measurements. The techniques allow direct charge transduction during molecular interactions to quantify fundamental biophysical processes. Critically the

Electronic Material Characterization

Ongoing
Manufacturing optimized devices that incorporate newly-emerging materials requires predictable performance throughout device lifetimes. Unexpected degradation in device performance, sometimes leading to failure, is often traceable to poor material reliability. Reliability is rooted in the stability

Engineering and Optical Characterization of Magnetic Nanoparticles (MNPs)

Completed
Nanomagnets by Design Nanoparticles are an important subclass of low-dimensional magnetic materials displaying size-dependent magnetic behavior. The controllable magnetocrystalline anisotropy introduced at nanoscale size regimes (as low as 3 nms in diameter) allows for MNPs of ferro/ferrimagnetic

EUV Zone Plates for Compact Solar Radiometer

Ongoing
A zone plate is an optical element used to separate and focus individual wavelengths of light. The zone plate consists of small circular rings that are opaque to the light separated by gaps, which are transparent. The incident light diffracts from the zone plate at an angle that depends on the

Extreme Ultraviolet Detector Calibration Service

Ongoing
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a wide variety of programs for the calibration of instruments and components for space-based research in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV). Many of these programs have been in existence since the 1960s, and have provided calibration support
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