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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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PML Contributes to Formation of Landmark IEEE Standards Committee and Working Group for MEMS Sensor Performance Parameters

March 5, 2014

MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) devices are everywhere, from automobiles (airbag sensors, tire-pressure monitoring systems, vehicle stabilization control)...

JILA Physicists Discover 'Quantum Droplet' in Semiconductor

February 26, 2014

JILA physicists used an ultrafast laser and help from German theorists to discover a new semiconductor quasiparticle—a handful of smaller particles that briefly...

Perspective: Weights and Measures Week 2014 — Making Sure the Marketplace Measures Up

February 25, 2014

Commentary by Mark Esser. Every year, we hear scattered stories of inaccurate measures. Gas pumps, grocery scales, grocery scanners, incorrectly labeled...

Stirred, Then Shaken: NIST Atomtronic Study May Pave the Way for New Devices

February 19, 2014

While pursuing the goal of turning a cloud of ultracold atoms into a completely new kind of circuit element, physicists at the National Institute of Standards...

Hysteresis in a Quantized BEC Superfluid

February 14, 2014

Scientists at NIST's Physical Measurement Laboratory and the NIST-sponsored Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), with collaborators elsewhere, have observed a...

CNST Deputy Director Lloyd Whitman Serving as Interim Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office

February 12, 2014

Lloyd Whitman, Deputy Director of the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST), has been detailed to the National Science and Technology Council...

prototype receiver for laser communications

Clever NIST/JPL Technology Decodes More Information from Single Photons

February 11, 2014

It's not quite Star Trek communications—yet. But long-distance communications in space may be easier now that researchers at the National Institute of Standards...

Researchers Develop Framework for Understanding Current-Switched Magnetic Devices

February 5, 2014

An international collaboration led by researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) has made significant progress in modelling...

A New Era for Atomic Clocks

February 4, 2014

A revolution is under way in timekeeping. Precision timekeeping based on atomic clocks already underpins much of our modern technology—telecommunications...

Toward New Precision in Measuring the Neutron Lifetime

February 3, 2014

A team of PML scientists and collaborators* has achieved a five-fold reduction in the dominant uncertainty in an experiment that measured the mean lifetime of...

Preparing the Next Generation of Female Physicists

February 3, 2014

"If the profession of physics is to thrive, we must make it our goal to achieve a scientifically literate society, a population that understands and values the...

double-paddle oscillator in its mounting, seen from below

Surface Detail: Oscillator to Explore Secrets of Mass Variation

January 30, 2014

It might seem that when the world agrees on a new definition of the kilogram based on a fixed value of a physical constant, as is expected soon, no one will...

Deborah Jin standing on the staircase at JILA

JILA/NIST Fellow Deborah Jin to Receive 2014 Comstock Prize in Physics

January 29, 2014

Physicist Deborah Jin of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been named the recipient of the 2014 Comstock Prize in Physics. The...

It's About Time—But Also Much More

January 23, 2014

DOC Guest Blog by JILA and University of Colorado Student Ben Bloom with JILA/NIST Fellow Jun Ye. JILA is a joint institute of NIST and the University of...

JILA Strontium Atomic Clock Sets New Records in Both Precision and Stability

January 22, 2014

Heralding a new age of terrific timekeeping, a research group led by a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physicist has unveiled an...

PML Measurements Drive Development of New Length Artifact

January 17, 2014

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)...

simulation of laser flashes on windshield

Helping the Judicial System Understand Laser Strikes on Aircraft

January 14, 2014

Joshua Hadler and colleagues in PML's Quantum Electronics and Photonics Division have devised a simple, accurate measurement system that can help law...

NIST Stars in Media's Top Science and Technology Stories of 2013

January 14, 2014

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) advances in atomic clocks and telescope cameras made it into five magazines' lists of the top science and...

New Value for the Planck Constant May Hasten Electronic Kilogram

January 14, 2014

After two years of difficult and meticulous work examining, refurbishing, and testing the aging workhorse watt balance called NIST-3, PML researchers have used...

Val Miller demonstrates volume instrument.

OWM Sees Progress in Proficiency Testing

December 23, 2013

Americans rely on many measurements of mass and volume in their daily lives, from weighing broccoli at the grocery store to putting gas in the family car. In...

Wineland Elected Fellow of National Academy of Inventors

December 17, 2013

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Fellow and Nobel laureate David Wineland has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI...

Schematic showing an input signal at 980 nm frequency shifted to the 1550 nm wavelength band through the application of two strong pump lasers.

A Frequency Conversion Interface to the Telecommunications Band Using Nanophotonics

December 17, 2013

Using nanofabricated waveguides in a silicon-based platform, researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) have developed a...

Steve Blankenship Wins AVS George T. Hanyo Award for Outstanding Performance in Technical Support of Research

December 16, 2013

Steve Blankenship, an Instrumentation Specialist in the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST), has been awarded the 2013 George T. Hanyo Award...

PML Study Supports Validity of Toolmark Identification in Forensics

December 13, 2013

Toolmark identification is an important forensic discipline where scrape and impression marks found at a crime scene are used to identify the type, brand, or...

Probing the Inner Secrets of Nanowires

December 11, 2013

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are vanishingly small: NWs from a recent batch made by scientists in PML's Quantum Electronics and Photonics Division measure...

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