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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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With a Gentle Touch, NIST Scientists Push Us Closer to Flash Memory Successor

August 8, 2017

Sometimes a light touch is best: When you're telling a joke or hammering a tiny finishing nail into a wall, a gentle delivery often succeeds most effectively...

Nobel Laureate Wineland to Leave NIST, Accepts Position at University of Oregon

August 1, 2017

Nobel laureate David Wineland announced today that he plans to leave the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this fall and has accepted a...

Sub-microscopic LEDs Shed New Light on Advanced Materials

July 12, 2017

One of the persistent challenges in 21 st century metrology is the need to measure ever-more-detailed properties of ever-smaller things, from microchip features...

Close up shot of the NIST Kibble balance with two kilograms stacked on it

New Measurement Will Help Redefine International Unit of Mass

June 30, 2017

Using a state-of-the-art device for measuring mass, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made their most precise...

a rectangular block of wood covered in green with markings, 2 bolts and 2 screws

NIST ‘Noise Thermometry’ Yields Accurate New Measurements of Boltzmann Constant

June 29, 2017

By measuring the random jiggling motion of electrons in a resistor, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have contributed to...

Quantum Thermometer or Optical Refrigerator?

June 22, 2017

In an arranged marriage of optics and mechanics, physicists have created microscopic structural beams that have a variety of powerful uses when light strikes...

Novel Techniques Examine Solar Cells with Nanoscale Precision

June 9, 2017

Using two novel techniques, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have for the first time examined, with nanometer-scale...

CNST Releases Spring 2017 Edition of the CNST News

June 8, 2017

The NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) is pleased to announce the release of the Spring 2017 edition of the CNST News. This quarterly...

Intrinsic Properties: The Secret Lives of Accelerometers

May 30, 2017

Accelerometers — devices that measure change in velocity — are built into automobiles, airplanes, cell phones, pacemakers, and scores of other products...

Tucking in to NIST’s ‘3D Printer’ Testbed

May 25, 2017

3D printing of metal objects is a booming industry, with the market for products and services worth more than an estimated $2.3 billion in 2015 – a nearly five...

Top image is classical orbit. Bottom image: electron with different physical state.

Researchers Develop Magnetic Switch to Turn On and Off a Strange Quantum Property

May 25, 2017

GAITHERSBURG, Md.--When a ballerina pirouettes, twirling a full revolution, she looks just as she did when she started. But for electrons and other subatomic...

No Liquid Helium, But Still Extremely Cool

May 23, 2017

NIST scientists have devised a novel hybrid system for cooling superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD) – essential tools for many kinds of...

The New Standard for Resistance Standards?

May 22, 2017

Contrary to the popular maxim, resistance is not futile. But it is quantized: The ratings of the heat-making resistors in your hair dryer or toaster ultimately...

diagram of perovskite sample examined by the photothermal indued resonance technique

Unexpected Property May Raise Material’s Prospects as Solar Cell

May 22, 2017

Crystalline materials known as perovskites could become the next superstars of solar cells. Over the past few years, researchers have demonstrated that a...

Illustration of laser cooling motion of atomic ion

NIST Physicists Find a Way to Control Charged Molecules – with Quantum Logic

May 10, 2017

BOULDER, Colo.—National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physicists have solved the seemingly intractable puzzle of how to control the quantum...

A Faster Way to Calibrate Piston Gauges

May 2, 2017

For industry and government labs to ensure their pressure-measurement machines are working correctly, they need a reliable source of pressure. Often, that...

Making an Airtight Case for Freedom

April 27, 2017

President Abraham Lincoln’s first handwritten draft of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a historic document in the collection of the New York State...

NIST Invents Fundamental Component for ‘Spintronic’ Computing

April 26, 2017

NIST has been granted a patent for technology that may hasten the advent of a long-awaited new generation of high-performance, low-energy computers....

Steel-Reinforced Concrete Building with Severe Corrosion Damage

Move Over, Superman! NIST 'Spectral Fingerprinting' Sees Through Concrete to Detect Early Corrosion

April 26, 2017

When you suffer a fall, an on-the-field collision or some other traumatic blow, the first thing the doctor will do is take an X-ray, CT scan or MRI to determine...

Supercomputing: Probing the Future

April 25, 2017

NIST scientists have developed a novel automated probe system for evaluating the performance of computer components designed to run 100 times faster than today...

Turning Back Time: Watching Rust Transform into Iron

April 4, 2017

Using a state-of-the-art microscopy technique, experimenters at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have witnessed a...

Graphene Lid Revitalizes Imaging Technique

March 31, 2017

By capping liquids with graphene, an ultrathin sheet of pure carbon, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their...

Measuring Acceleration with Light

March 29, 2017

Most people have never seen an accelerometer -- a device that measures change in velocity -- and wouldn’t know where to look. Yet accelerometers have become...

Testing the Performance of Semiconductors – with Light

March 28, 2017

Semiconductors are the cornerstone of modern electronics. They’re used in solar cells, light emitting diodes (LEDs), microprocessors in laptops and cell phones...

NIST Physicists Show Ion Pairs Perform Enhanced 'Spooky Action'

March 28, 2017

Adding to strong recent demonstrations that particles of light perform what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” in which two separated objects can...

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