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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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'Standing Room Only' for PML's Hands-On Dimensional Metrology Workshop

April 22, 2015

Earlier this month, PML's Dimensional Metrology Group hosted a three-day hands-on training event for 13 industry and government attendees. The class was given...

Getting Better All the Time: JILA Strontium Atomic Clock Sets New Records

April 21, 2015

In another advance at the far frontiers of timekeeping by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers, the latest modification of a record...

It's a Trap! But That's Okay for Novel Light-Detecting Material

April 17, 2015

Traps. Whether you're squaring off against the Empire or trying to wring electricity out of sunlight, they're almost never a good thing. But sometimes you can...

NIST Technique Can Measure Volumes of Key 'Lab on a Chip' Components

April 17, 2015

Imagine shrinking tubes and beakers—in fact, most of a clinical chemistry lab—down to the size of a credit card. When engineers figured out how to do that two...

NIST Tightens the Bounds on the Quantum Information 'Speed Limit'

April 14, 2015

If you're designing a new computer, you want it to solve problems as fast as possible. Just how fast is possible is an open question when it comes to quantum...

Mind the Gap: Nanoscale Speed Bump Could Regulate Plasmons for High-Speed Data Flow

April 1, 2015

The name sounds like something Marvin the Martian might have built, but the "nanomechanical plasmonic phase modulator" is not a doomsday device. Developed by a...

Precocious GEM: Shape-Shifting Sensor Can Report Conditions from Deep in the Body

March 27, 2015

Scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have devised and demonstrated a new...

A fired cartridge case and a fired bullet.

PML Helps Lead Standardization for Firearm and Toolmark Examinations

March 24, 2015

Xiaoyu Alan Zheng and Ted Vorburger of PML's Semiconductor and Dimensional Metrology Division were appointed to the Organization of Scientific Area Committees'...

Getting a Critical Edge on Plutonium Identification

March 23, 2015

A collaboration between NIST scientists and colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has resulted in a new kind of sensor that can be used to...

Lack of Effective Timing Signals Could Hamper 'Internet of Things' Development

March 19, 2015

Our fast-approaching future of driverless cars and "smart" electrical grids will depend on billions of linked devices making decisions and communicating with...

NIST's MRI Measurement Tools to Help Diagnose Veterans' Traumatic Brain Injuries

March 17, 2015

More than 300,000 U.S. veterans have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in recent years, a legacy of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But these...

NIST Gets New Angle on X-Ray Measurements

March 9, 2015

Criminal justice, cosmology and computer manufacturing may not look to have much in common, but these and many other disparate fields all depend on sensitive...

Novel Neutron Detector Makes Scintillating Debut

March 9, 2015

A team of researchers has successfully demonstrated a new design concept for a neutron detector that does not rely – as nearly all current models do – on a...

New Imaging Technique Finds Formation of Aluminum Alloys to Blame for Next-Gen Battery Failures

March 3, 2015

Researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of Maryland, and Sandia National Laboratories, have for the...

Double Vision: New NIST Technique Can See Nanoscale 'Tree' and Microscale 'Forest' Simultaneously

March 3, 2015

A close-up view of an individual tree won't tell you much about what's going on in the forest, or even what's going on in the tree's upper branches. The same...

PML to Help Automated Precision Incorporated Improve Laser Tracker Measurement Testing

February 25, 2015

Laser trackers are state-of-the-art measuring machines that are capable of measuring the dimensions of large objects (up to approximately 120 meters in length)...

NIST's Michael Boss to Receive Tech Transfer Award for MRI Calibration Standard

February 24, 2015

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physicist Michael Boss will receive the 2015 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Award for Excellence in...

Computing for Better Radiation Therapy

February 19, 2015

Doctors devising a plan of attack on a tumor may one day gain another tactical advantage thanks to a series of sophisticated calculations proposed by PML's...

New Accelerometer Calibration Service to Start Soon

February 19, 2015

In a few weeks, NIST will begin offering a new, state-of-the-art calibration service for accelerometers. Based on a technique called laser interferometry, the...

integrating sphere for light measurements

Following a New MAP for Solid-State Lighting

February 19, 2015

LED lights are notably cool. But as an industry sector, solid-state lighting (SSL) keeps heating up, with demand growing rapidly in residential, commercial, and...

CNST Releases the Winter 2015 Edition of the CNST News

February 18, 2015

The NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) is pleased to announce the release of the Winter 2015 edition of The CNST News. This quarterly...

Autonomous Atom Assembly of Nanostructures using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope

February 13, 2015

NIST researchers have demonstrated the autonomous computer-controlled assembly of atoms into perfect nanostructures using a low temperature scanning tunneling...

NIST Group Drafts Plug-and-Pay Standards

February 12, 2015

Plug-in electric vehicles make up a growing share of the nation's rolling stock and are prompting increased demand for the electrical equivalent of the corner...

New Best Practices Guide Shows Unit Pricing Is a Great Deal

February 3, 2015

In an effort to help shoppers everywhere get the best value for their money, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have...

Flip Out! Noncommittal Material Could Make For Hypersensitive Magnetic Direction Detector

February 3, 2015

While the mysterious, unseen forces magnets project are now (mostly) well-understood, they can still occasionally surprise us. For instance, thin films of...

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