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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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All In One: NIST Develops Single Device to Realize Electrical Standards

August 12, 2025

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed one of the first all-in-one instruments for realizing the most up-to...

NIST Team Develops Technique to Stabilize the Phase of Weak Light Signals in Quantum Network

July 18, 2025

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have taken a crucial step forward in building a large-scale quantum communications...

Four researchers pose standing around a large piece of scientific equipment covered with wiring and electronics.

NIST Ion Clock Sets New Record for Most Accurate Clock in the World

July 14, 2025

This new result contributes to the international effort to define the second with a much greater level of accuracy than before, enabling new scientific and...

Circuit board with various square chips and gold screws. Small letters in the center say: NIST True Bq.

New NIST Method Precisely Measures Radioactivity in Tiny Samples

July 8, 2025

This development could support improved cancer treatments, nuclear fuel reprocessing for advanced reactors and other fields.

NIST unit conversion card ruler measures an autumn oak leaf

Classroom-Ready: NIST Releases Updated Metric Ruler and Conversion Card

July 7, 2025

The NIST Metric Program provides a wide range of educational materials to help students learn to apply the International System of Units (SI), commonly known as...

Advanced Mass Metrology alumni (Class of 2023)

Advanced Mass Metrology Training with Guidance on the Kilogram Consensus Value

July 7, 2025

NIST OWM will welcome a full class of students to its Advanced Mass Metrology course at NIST’s Gaithersburg, Maryland campus at the end of this July. This nine...

EVSE Metrology Trainings are a Go!

July 7, 2025

OWM is ramping up a new series of metrology training for the testing and verification of electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). This August, in conjunction...

OWM Info Hours Update (2025)

July 7, 2025

OWM continues to host a series of Information Hours, or "Info Hours," to feature current weights and measures, laboratory metrology, or documentary standard...

C-RMAP 2025: “That’s A Wrap!”

July 7, 2025

In early June, over 115 metrologists from state, county, and federal government laboratories gathered with manufacturing and industry laboratory metrologists in...

hand holding a cellphone showing four different apps

Legal Metrology Meets the Digital Age

July 7, 2025

The days when a telephone was just a device to make phone calls are long gone. Nowadays, almost everybody has a smartphone with the capability to use it as a...

Research Under Pressure: NIST Scientists Make Definitive Measurement of the Optical Pascal

June 26, 2025

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have overcome a key obstacle to measuring gas pressure with a...

Three male researchers pose smiling in front of a large, complex scientific device in a lab.

NIST and Partners Use Quantum Mechanics to Make a Factory for Random Numbers

June 11, 2025

Broadcast as a free public service, the beacon can be used anywhere an independent source of random numbers would be useful, such as selecting jury candidates...

New NIST Standard Helps Deliver the Right Dosage of Cancer-Fighting Drugs

June 3, 2025

NIST is helping drug companies accurately measure the amount of radioactivity in their actinium-225 drugs.

NIST’s Kibble balance: A Mass revolution

June 2, 2025

NIST engineer Leon Chao never dreamed his childhood fascination with LEGOs would fit together with his professional life. But a working LEGO model he and his...

BIPM 150th Anniversary Standout Poster

May 23, 2025

World Metrology Day (20 May 2025) marked the sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the Meter Convention. NIST and the Office of Weights and Measures (OWM)...

NIST Moonlight Data Will Help Satellites Get a More Accurate Look at Earth

May 20, 2025

Reliable measurements of the light from our planet can help industries from agriculture to meteorology to mining.

Deception, Trickery, and Metrology

April 30, 2025

While exploring a box of early 20th century index cards in the NIST archives, I stumbled upon two that starkly illustrated one of NIST's missions – legal...

NIST Team Uses Neutron Beams to Authenticate Historic Coins and Spot Fakes

April 29, 2025

Imaging antique coins with beams of low-energy neutrons, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have...

New Atomic Fountain Clock Joins Elite Group That Keeps the World on Time

April 28, 2025

NIST scientists have published results establishing a new atomic clock, NIST-F4, as one of the world’s most accurate timekeepers.

NIST Study Aims to Improve Utility of the Scanning Electron Microscope

April 25, 2025

Using an electron beam to image the tiniest of defects and patterns on microchips, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) has long been a mainstay of the...

NIST’s Curved Neutron Beams Could Deliver Benefits Straight to Industry

April 17, 2025

In a physics first, a team including scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has created a way to make beams of neutrons...

OWM Welcomes Undergraduate Researchers

March 27, 2025

The Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) welcomes Yoon Thwel, a spring Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) intern and Matthew Kenzinger, a visiting...

A first-ever comparison between National Metrology Institutes in the kW-power regime

March 5, 2025

NIST has continuously positioned itself at the forefront of high-power laser calibrations for over three decades [1]. To better meet needs of the manufacturing...

Sources and Detectors group ensures U. S. Military gas mask performance

February 26, 2025

“To survive and win…we must leverage ingenuity and technology to develop comprehensive solutions” -U. S. Army CBRN capability development update, 2024 CBRN...

Calibration leaders and researchers in the NIST Sources and Detectors Group support U.S. Military Aviation with laser-targeting system calibrations

February 21, 2025

“Air Power alone does not guarantee America’s security, but I believe it best exploits the nation’s greatest asset – our technical skill” -Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg...

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