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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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NIST Researchers Propose Method for Modeling Smart Sensor Interoperability in Smart Grids

February 19, 2022

Smart sensors play a critical role in smart grids, supporting bidirectional flows of energy. Such sensors are needed for real-time monitoring of energy flow...

NIST Researchers Link Cutting-Edge Gravity Research to Safer Operation of Construction Cranes

February 17, 2022

In the beginning, all that Stephan Schlamminger wanted to do was to write down an equation that would help him obtain a more precise value for G, the...

JILA Atomic Clocks Measure Einstein’s General Relativity at Millimeter Scale

February 16, 2022

JILA physicists have measured Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, or more specifically, the effect called time dilation, at the smallest scale ever...

Two tiny square chips are shown with a coin for scale.

Spotlight: A Literal Blast From the Past With NIST Quantum Sensors

February 10, 2022

This mite of a sensor just showed its forensic might. Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory used the NIST sensors shown here to demonstrate a highly...

Hybrid Optical Device Captures Light for Longer Periods of Time in a Tiny Region

February 9, 2022

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have significantly improved the ability of a type of optical...

Strobe Light for 5G: NIST Imaging System Spotlights the Tiny Mechanical Hearts at the Core of Every Cellphone

February 4, 2022

Inside every cellphone lies a tiny mechanical heart, beating several billion times a second. These micromechanical resonators play an essential role in...

NIST Researchers Resurrect and Improve a Technique for Detecting Transistor Defects

February 3, 2022

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have revived and improved a once-reliable technique to identify and count defects in...

New Telecom Receiver System Checks Reliability of Message Components in Real Time

January 25, 2022

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have invented and demonstrated a novel scheme for substantially improving the detection...

A numbered orange plastic box on a lanyard is shown with a quarter for scale.

NIST’s Low-Cost Radio System Could Help Trace Disease Spread

January 24, 2022

In efforts to limit the spread of disease while preserving privacy, an interdisciplinary research team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology...

Measuring Up: Light reflection and transmission

January 4, 2022

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently completed major upgrades to two key instruments serving critical national needs: measuring...

When Atoms Don’t Blend In

January 3, 2022

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and colleagues at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) have prepared and controlled a...

NIST Partners with NCWM and States for a National Survey on 20 lb Cylinders of LPG (Propane)

January 3, 2022 - June 1, 2023

Successful Completion of 2022 National Survey on 20 lb LPG (Propane) Cylinders NIST Office of Weights and Measures (OWM), the National Conference on Weights and...

Sneezes, Rain Clouds and Ink Jets: NIST Improves the Ability of Optical Microscopes to Measure the Volume of Microdroplets

December 20, 2021

Sneezes, rain clouds, and ink jet printers: They all produce or contain liquid droplets so tiny it would take several billion of them to fill a liter bottle...

Updates to Fundamental Constants Reflect Redefinition of International System of Units

December 16, 2021

The CODATA Task Group on Fundamental Constants recently produced its 2018 update of a self-consistent set of internationally recommended values of the basic...

NIST Recommends Steps to Boost Resilience of U.S. Timekeeping

November 29, 2021

The nation should bolster research and development of systems that distribute accurate time via fiber-optic cable and radio as part of the effort to back up GPS...

Energizer Atoms: JILA Researchers Find New Way to Keep Atoms Excited

November 18, 2021

JILA researchers have tricked nature by tuning a dense quantum gas of atoms to make a congested “Fermi sea,” thus keeping atoms in a high-energy state, or...

Measuring Up: NIST Calibrates Masses for Unique Air Force Deadweight Machines

November 18, 2021

Mechanical engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have just finished calibrating several dozen large metal masses, which will be...

Impeding the Impedance: Research Reveals How to Design a Better Next-Generation Lithium-Ion Battery

November 16, 2021

The newest generation of lithium-ion batteries now under development promises a revolution in powering cell phones, electric vehicles, laptops and myriad other...

NIST, Collaborators Develop Sensitive New Way of Detecting Transistor Defects

October 7, 2021

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators have devised and tested a new, highly sensitive method of detecting...

A person wearing safety goggles works at a table of scientific equipment.

JILA’s Comb Breathalyzer Is Now a Thousandfold More Sensitive to Disease Biomarkers

October 4, 2021

JILA scientists have boosted the sensitivity of their decade-old frequency comb breathalyzer a thousandfold and can detect additional biomarkers of disease —...

A woman wearing a face covering leans over a piece of scientific equipment, holding tweezers.

Spotlight: Inspiration Leading Nandita Abhyankar to NIST and Beyond

September 24, 2021

A passion undeterred — guest researcher (and former postdoc) Nandita Abhyankar took a detour between her graduate studies and current scientific endeavors, but...

A tiny chip encased in clear plastic sits on a piece of graph paper.

Spotlight: A Stability-Boosting Swap for Our Chip-Scale Clock

September 20, 2021

Stable is the chip-scale clock that uses a different laser, or so says the latest research from NIST physicists. Our scientists replaced an old infrared...

A Smart Use for Doping: Implanted Atoms Create Unique Electrical IDs That Distinguish Bona Fide Devices From Forgeries

September 16, 2021

If someone sells you a luxury handbag from Paris, France, but it turns out be a forgery from Paris, Texas, the counterfeit item might cost you a thousand bucks...

A New Harmony: NIST Researchers Develop a Universal Method for Calculating the Resonances of Oscillators

September 15, 2021

The natural, or resonance, frequency at which a simple harmonic oscillator vibrates reveals with exquisite sensitivity the essential properties of the physical...

IEEE Brain Podcast Series: Q&A with Dr. Mark Stiles

September 10, 2021

In the September 2021 episode of the IEEE Brain Podcast Series, Mark Stiles, an active member of the IEEE Magnetics Society and a fellow at NIST, shares his...

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