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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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Stop the Presses: NIST Finds a Way to Measure Fuel Cell 'Printing' at a Fast Clip

October 4, 2017

If you’re wondering when a hydrogen-powered car will become a viable option for you, take heart. A team including scientists at the National Institute of...

Lighting a Path to 'Smarter' Homes, Roads, and Bridges

September 27, 2017

If you’re worried about carbon monoxide poisoning, you might purchase a detector for your home. But what if your house itself could sense carbon monoxide and...

Atomic-Scale Movies Reveal That Catalyst Nanoparticles Undergo Internal Changes to Forge Carbon Nanotubes

September 20, 2017

Lights, camera, catalysis! Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made some of the first movies of the structural...

Researchers Find New Way to Manipulate Magnetism

September 14, 2017

In a pioneering effort to control, measure and understand magnetism at the atomic level, researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and...

CNST Releases Summer 2017 Edition of the CNST News

September 14, 2017

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

NIST Boulder Microfab Lab Goes 'Nano'

September 12, 2017

The world-class clean room in the NIST Boulder Microfabrication Facility (BMF) has just gotten a bit more crowded – in a good way. Staff members have recently...

Driving the Universal Quantum Bus

September 12, 2017

NIST scientists have achieved a world record in detecting the intensity of an ultra-faint source of light, equaling the capabilities of the deep-space...

Orange disk resonator with waveguide to right and nanoscale probe to left.

NIST Researchers Revolutionize the Atomic Force Microscope

September 12, 2017

Most measuring instruments are limited by the tradeoff between how precisely and how rapidly a measurement is made: the more precise the measurement, the longer...

A NIST researcher holds a fixed length optical cavity (FLOC), a structure that enables highly accurate, quantum-based measurements of pressure.

NIST, Industry Partner Aim to Develop 'Quantum Pascal' Standard Into Real-World Device

September 6, 2017

In our everyday lives, pressure can mean a looming work deadline, a final exam, or bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. In scientific terms, pressure is a...

Even Better than DNA Origami

September 1, 2017

DNA is the stuff of life, but it is also the stuff of nanotechnology. Because molecules of DNA with complementary chemical structures recognize and bind to one...

scanning electron micrograph of a single phononic-crystal cell

New Design Lets Micro-Clock Resonators Ring Like a Bell

August 30, 2017

You can’t hear most of them, but the world is running on different kinds of mechanical oscillations. For example, inside the average electronic wristwatch is a...

Diagram of resistive ram on/off states with moving on/off switch.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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