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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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NIST Device for Detecting Subatomic-Scale Motion Has Potential Robotics, Homeland Security Applications

December 15, 2016

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new device that measures the motion of super-tiny particles traversing...

In Search of ‘Sterile’ Neutrinos

December 9, 2016

Lately, neutrinos – the tiny, nearly massless particles that many scientists study to better understand the fundamental workings of the universe – have been...

Keeping a Sharp Eye on the Environment from Space

December 7, 2016

On Nov. 19, 2016, America’s most advanced weather satellite rocketed into orbit carrying six new, state-of-the-art instruments, dramatically enhanced...

CNST Releases Fall 2016 Edition of The CNST News

November 29, 2016

The NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology) (CNST) is pleased to announce the release of the Fall 2016 edition of The CNST News. This quarterly...

Man standing behind big silver equipment

Disseminating the New Kilogram: An International ‘Dry Run’

November 28, 2016

When the kilogram, the world’s basic unit of mass, gets a new definition in 2018, it will be based not on a physical artifact but a constant of nature. However...

NIST Debuts Dual Atomic Clock — and a New Stability Record

November 28, 2016

What could be better than a world-leading atomic clock? Two clocks in one. Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have combined...

For Wearable Electronic Devices, NIST Shows Plastic Holes Are Golden

November 23, 2016

In science, sometimes the best discoveries come when you’re exploring something else entirely. That’s the case with recent findings from the National Institute...

Universe’s Constants Now Known with Sufficient Certainty to Completely Redefine the International System of Units

November 22, 2016

Fundamental constants are physical quantities that are universal in nature. For example, the speed of light in vacuum and the charge of a single electron are...

Big G Redux: Solving the Mystery of a Perplexing Result

November 16, 2016

If you spend time in physics research circles, you may have heard of the big G controversy. The universal constant of gravitation, G – affectionately known as...

Seeing Light’s Effect on Atoms — Within Picoseconds

November 16, 2016

For the first time in a laboratory setting, NIST scientists have made stop-action x-ray measurements of the way visible light interacts with atoms and molecules...

Noise, Temperature, and the New SI

November 15, 2016

NIST has recently made substantial improvements to its Johnson-noise thermometry system, which is playing a vital role in the worldwide effort to determine the...

This artist’s conception imagines the proposed ring of atoms as cars on a beltway.

Atomic Beltway Could Solve Problems of Cosmic Gravity

November 14, 2016

When is a traffic jam not a traffic jam? When it's a quantum traffic jam, of course. Only in quantum physics can traffic be standing still and moving at the...

JILA Team Spots Elusive Intermediate Compound in Atmospheric Chemistry

October 27, 2016

BOULDER, Colo.-- JILA physicists and colleagues have identified a long-missing piece in the puzzle of exactly how fossil fuel combustion contributes to air...

Drawing of a spiral delay line heater element, designed with the CNST Nanolithography Toolbox software

New Nanoscale Design Software Available Online

October 21, 2016

A recently developed CNST software package that designs difficult-to-draw nanoscale shapes, including spirals, S-bends, and tapered structures is now available...

Move Over, Lasers: Scientists Can Now Create Holograms from Neutrons, Too

October 20, 2016

For the first time, a team including scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used neutron beams to create holograms of...

Screenshot of an animation of a superradiant laser

JILA’s Superradiant Laser May One Day Boost Atomic Clocks and ‘Rulers’ for Space

October 14, 2016

BOULDER, Colo. – JILA physicists have demonstrated a novel laser design based on synchronized emissions of light from the same type of atoms used in advanced...

CNST Welcomes New Deputy Director

October 3, 2016

For James Kushmerick, who became the deputy director of CNST on Oct. 3, joining the Center “feels like I’m getting back to my roots.” In 1994, Kushmerick was...

Meet Bob, PML's Second "Primary" Coordinate Measuring Machine

September 21, 2016

Until recently, if a company wanted the best measurements in the world for the physical dimensions of one of its dimensional standards, it had to book time on...

Supported by Granite, New SURF Beamline Is Real Heavyweight

September 21, 2016

If your work involves sensing, measuring or using ultraviolet light, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has great news for you: Granite...

Prominent NIST and JILA Physicist Deborah Jin Passes Away

September 19, 2016

Physicist Deborah Jin, a world leader in exotic states of matter called ultracold quantum gases, passed away September 15, 2016, from cancer. She was 47 years...

NIST Patents Single-Photon Detector for Potential Encryption and Sensing Apps

September 15, 2016

Individual photons of light now can be detected far more efficiently using a device patented by a team including the National Institute of Standards and...

NIST Illuminates Transfer of Nanoscale Motion Through Microscale Machine

September 12, 2016

From the printing press to the jet engine, mechanical machines with moving parts have been a mainstay of technology for centuries. As U.S. industry develops...

NIST and Navy Tests Suggest Telecom Networks Could Back Up GPS Time Signals

September 8, 2016

Precision time signals sent through the Global Positioning System (GPS) synchronize cellphone calls, time-stamp financial transactions, and support safe travel...

Crystal Unclear: Why Might This Uncanny Crystal Change Laser Design?

August 26, 2016

Laser applications may benefit from crystal research by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and China's Shandong University...

Harmful Algal Blooms in Their True Colors

August 26, 2016

Explosive growth of cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, is nothing new. In fact, such cyanobacteria probably produced the original oxygen in Earth's...

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