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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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Spotlight: Norman Sanford and the Mysterious Nanolith

December 30, 2020

Monolith structures made appearances all around the globe this fall and winter, and a nano-sized one just emerged at NIST’s Precision Imaging Facility in...

Spotlight: Transporting Vaccines Depends on Temperature-Sensing Technology

December 17, 2020

Delivery trucks are shipping COVID-19 vaccines across the nation, and their cargo needs a cold journey to stay viable (minus 80 degrees C, colder than a typical...

JILA’s Bigger and Better ‘Tweezer Clock’ Is Super Stable

December 16, 2020

JILA physicists have boosted the signal power of their atomic “tweezer clock” and measured its performance in part for the first time, demonstrating high...

Orange horizontal shapes on a purple background

JILA’s Electric ‘Knob’ Tunes Chemical Reaction Rates in Quantum Gas

December 10, 2020

Building on their newfound ability to induce molecules in ultracold gases to interact with each other over long distances, JILA researchers have used an...

Grid shows two peaks, with the left one taller than the right.

New JILA Tools ‘Turn On’ Quantum Gases of Ultracold Molecules

December 9, 2020

JILA researchers have developed tools to “turn on” quantum gases of ultracold molecules, gaining control of long-distance molecular interactions for potential...

Error-Prone Quantum Bits Could Correct Themselves, NIST Physicists Show

December 8, 2020

One of the chief obstacles facing quantum computer designers — correcting the errors that creep into a processor’s calculations — could be overcome with a new...

In Search for Dark Matter, New Fountain Design Could Become Wellspring of Answers

November 27, 2020

You can’t see it. You can’t feel it. But the substance scientists refer to as dark matter could account for five times as much “stuff” in the universe as the...

Square wood box with multicolored wires arranged in ever-smaller squares inside and three small plastic strips attached in several places.

NIST Sensor Experts Invent Supercool Mini-Thermometer

November 17, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have invented a miniature thermometer with big potential applications, such as...

A new twist on measuring spin: NIST Develops Microresonator to Study Electron Spin in Small Volumes

November 17, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a device to detect a quantum property of electrons, known as spin, in...

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Advanced Atomic Clock Makes a Better Dark Matter Detector

November 12, 2020

JILA researchers have used a state-of-the-art atomic clock to narrow the search for elusive dark matter, an example of how continual improvements in clocks have...

Room Temperature Conversion of CO₂ to CO: A New Way to Synthesize Hydrocarbons

November 2, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have demonstrated a room-temperature method that could...

Safeguarding Critical Infrastructure: NIST Releases Draft Cybersecurity Guidance, Develops GPS-Free Backup for Timing Systems

October 23, 2020

Taking another step toward strengthening the nation’s critical infrastructure, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has drafted guidelines...

A novel, low-cost method detects nanoscale contaminants during manufacture of semiconductor devices

October 19, 2020

As computer chips and other electronic devices continue to shrink in size, they become ever more sensitive to contamination. However, detecting the nanoscale...

What Laser Color Do You Like?

October 13, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland have developed a microchip technology that can convert...

A Billion Tiny Pendulums Could Detect the Universe’s Missing Mass

October 13, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have proposed a novel method for finding dark matter, the cosmos’s...

Thermal MagIC: New NIST Project to Build Nano-Thermometers Could Revolutionize Temperature Imaging

October 9, 2020

Cheaper refrigerators? Stronger hip implants? A better understanding of human disease? All of these could be possible and more, someday, thanks to an ambitious...

Quantum Matchmaking: New NIST System Detects Ultra-Faint Communications Signals Using the Principles of Quantum Physics

September 23, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised and demonstrated a system that could dramatically increase the performance...

A man in safety goggles gives a thumbs-up while sitting at a computer.

Spotlight: Theorizing Between Postdoc and Adviser About the Future of DNA Origami

September 22, 2020

Some assembly required — NIST postdoctoral researcher Jacob Majikes takes the smallest fragments of life and combines them into new structures ... or rather...

NIST Scientists Get Soft on 3D Printing

September 22, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new method of 3D-printing gels and other soft materials. Published in...

woman makes adjustments to optics on a laser bench

Spotlight: Alejandra Collopy's Exploration of the Quantum World

September 21, 2020

It’s the little things that make all the difference for NIST postdoctoral researcher Alejandra Collopy ... and by little, we mean quantum. She’s part of a team...

Quantum Economic Development Consortium Confirms Steering Committee

September 16, 2020

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) has formally established its steering committee with the signing of participation...

NIST Scientists Reveal the Power Behind the Curtain — With Neutrons

September 16, 2020

In a potential step forward for imaging technology, scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Sandia National Laboratories...

Painting With Light: Novel Nanopillars Precisely Control the Color and Intensity of Transmitted Light

September 4, 2020

By shining white light on a glass slide stippled with millions of tiny titanium dioxide pillars, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and...

Making the DNA Melt Curve More Accurate

August 18, 2020

DNA is not only the blueprint of life; it has become the backbone for making tiny structures that can be inserted into the human body to diagnose and treat...

Spin Wave Detective Story Redux: NIST Researchers Find More Surprising Behavior in a 2D Magnet

August 4, 2020

A few months ago, a team of scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reported something surprising about a 2D magnetic material...

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