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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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PML Expertise and Collaborations Lead to Portable Test Solution for Laser Trackers

December 28, 2015

A collaboration between NIST researchers and a private-sector firm has led to development of a commercial device to fill a critical need in industry: field

'Squeezed' Motion in a Massive Object

December 22, 2015

Everyone expects objects at the atomic scale to follow the weird rules of quantum mechanics. But in the past few years, scientists at NIST and elsewhere have

Ringing in a New Way to Measure and Modulate Trapped Light

December 22, 2015

Researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a novel way to noninvasively measure and map how and where

NIST Adds to Quantum Computing Toolkit with Mixed-Atom Logic Operations

December 16, 2015

BOULDER, Colo.–Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have added to their collection of ingredients for future quantum

NIST's Cryogenic Flow Measurement Facility at Boulder, CO

The Once and Future Cryogenic Flow Facility

December 14, 2015

As recently as a few months ago, somebody who needed an internationally recognized calibration for a flow meter that operates with very low-temperature fluids

Seeing Into Cells More Clearly

December 7, 2015

NIST scientists, with collaborators at the University of Michigan, have designed and demonstrated a new and easily tunable, high-contrast scattering agent for

Measuring Nanoscale Features with Fractions of Light

December 2, 2015

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers are seeing the light, but in an altogether different way. And how they are doing it just might

Nanoparticle Manufacturing Workshop

November 24, 2015

Following decades of research and development, commercial products enabled by nanoparticles are poised to have broad impact in diverse sectors of the global

Measuring Smokestack Emissions Accurately

November 23, 2015

Society is increasingly concerned about exactly how much carbon dioxide and other pollutants are coming out of smokestacks. But current measurements are clouded

On the Road to a Neutron Microscope: First Light for World-Class Neutron Imaging Facility

November 20, 2015

Neutrons, the charge-less constituents of atomic nuclei, are nifty imagers. Since the 1950s, scientists have been using these particles' eerie ability to non

RFPs: The Best and the Brightest

November 20, 2015

How, precisely, does disease begin and progress in a single cell? To fully understand such processes on the smallest scales, scientists need a way to peer deep

How NIST Detected Spooky Actions at a Distance

November 10, 2015

This graphic describes how researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) used pairs of light particles to perform a "Bell test,"

NIST physicist Krister Shalm with the photon source used in the Bell test

NIST Team Proves 'Spooky Action at a Distance' is Really Real

November 10, 2015

BOULDER, Colo.—Einstein was wrong about at least one thing: There are, in fact, "spooky actions at a distance," as now proven by researchers at the National

It's a Beauty: JILA's Quantum Crystal is Now More Valuable

November 5, 2015

Physicists at JILA have made their "quantum crystal" of ultracold molecules more valuable than ever by packing about five times more molecules into it. The

New Ballistics Control Chart for Forensic Imaging

October 28, 2015

You've probably seen it on TV: To determine whether a single weapon was used in multiple crimes, forensics labs run images of a spent bullet through a database

Measuring Optical Power with Single-Photon Detectors

October 27, 2015

Precise measurements of optical power enable activities from fiber-optic communications to laser manufacturing and biomedical imaging — anything requiring a

Fundamental Constants: The Latest . . . and the Last?

October 26, 2015

In a world of incessant change, some things have to stay the same. One is the set of values for the fundamental physical constants – such as the speed of light

Top-of-the-Atmosphere Sunlight — As Seen from Earth

October 22, 2015

It may seem hard to believe, but we still don't know nearly enough about sunlight. Although people have been splitting the sun's rays into a spectrum and

A New, World-Class Facility for Infrared Calibrations

October 21, 2015

NIST is about to open the world's most accurate facility for calibrating infrared (IR) detectors. It is made possible by the establishment of an extremely

NIST Calibrates Quartz Crystals for Fusion Device

September 29, 2015

Last spring, PML's x-ray calibration facilities were used in a pinch – a Z pinch, that is. The Sandia National Laboratories' Z Pulsed Power Facility, or "Z

Quantum Simulation: Physics at the Edge

September 25, 2015

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have achieved a major milestone in simulating the dynamics of condensed-matter systems –

NIST Puts the Twist on Neutrons — Because It Takes One to Know One

September 23, 2015

A team of scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has found a way to put a twist on a beam of neutrons—a development

NIST Team Breaks Distance Record for Quantum Teleportation

September 22, 2015

BOULDER, Colo.—Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have "teleported" or transferred quantum information carried in light

GaN Nanowires: Knowing Which End Is Up

September 21, 2015

Many people who have heard of gallium nitride (GaN) know it as the semiconductor used in bright light-emitting diodes for flashlights and energy-efficient light

Hydrogen Storage Formulation Patented

September 21, 2015

The prospect of a "hydrogen economy" – in which vehicles powered by fuel cells would travel the nation's roadways emitting nothing from their tailpipes but

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