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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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New SPAD Control System: High Efficiency, Low Noise

May 16, 2014

By employing a technique analogous to the operation of noise-canceling headphones, PML researchers have created an exquisitely sensitive, semiconductor-based...

Schematic of the NIST focused lithium ion beam microscope

This FIB Doesn't Lie: New NIST Microscope Sees What Others Can't

May 6, 2014

Microscopes don't exactly lie, but their limitations affect the truths they can tell. For example, when operated in their most typical high-energy modes...

Nanotube-Infused Clothing May Protect Against Chemical Weapons

May 6, 2014

Nerve agents are among the world's most feared chemical weapons, but scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a...

PML's Ohno receives first "SSL Visionary Award"

April 29, 2014

Yoshi Ohno, a group leader in PML's Sensor Science Division, was recently honored by the Department of Energy as the first recipient of the SSL Visionary Award...

PML Leadership Prominent Throughout Newly Released ITRS

April 24, 2014

When the semiconductor industry received the eagerly awaited annual update of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) [1] at the end of...

A New Beginning for the END: Detecting Neutrons with Light

April 15, 2014

In a truly scintillating set of experiments, scientists at NIST and the University of Maryland have demonstrated that a process called excimer* scintillation...

Now You See It: Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in a Silicon Nitride Optomechanical Crystal

April 9, 2014

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) have observed electromagnetically induced transparency at room temperature and...

No Compromises: JILA's Short, Flexible, Reusable AFM Probe

April 8, 2014

JILA researchers have engineered a short, flexible, reusable probe for the atomic force microscope (AFM) that enables state-of-the-art precision and stability...

Developing a 'Gold Standard' for Hall Resistance

April 7, 2014

PML researchers have developed a novel method of fabricating graphene-based microdevices that may hasten the arrival of a new generation of standards for...

NIST physicists Steve Jefferts and Tom Heavner with the NIST-F2 cesium fountain atommic clock

NIST Launches a New U.S. Time Standard: NIST-F2 Atomic Clock

April 3, 2014

NIST-F2 Atomic Clock News Briefing: Opening Statement by Tom O'Brian, Chief, Time and Frequency Division Opening Statement by Steve Jefferts, NIST Project...

NIST-F2 Atomic Clock Webinar

April 3, 2014

On April 3, 2014, NIST hosted a news briefing on the NIST-F2 Atomic Clock. << Back to the press release. <

Explaining Interactions between Light, Heat, and Charge Carriers in Silicon Photonic Microresonators

March 27, 2014

In an article appearing in the March 28th issue of Physical Review Letters, researchers from Northwestern University working with researchers from the NIST...

Essay: How to Weigh Everything from Atoms to Apples Using the Revised SI

March 26, 2014

Very soon, the International System of Units (SI) may be revised to define the unit of mass in terms of a fixed value of the Planck constant, h. That move would...

NIST Gives Astronomers a Better Ruler in the Search for Extrasolar Planets

March 26, 2014

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have rejuvenated a technique for finding planets near distant stars.* New measurements...

PML Scientists Develop 3D SEM Metrology for 10 nm Structures

March 21, 2014

PML researchers have devised an idea for determining the three-dimensional shape of features as small as 10 nanometers wide. The model-based method compares...

Demagnetization Dynamics on a Femtosecond Time Scale

March 20, 2014

There are many unknowns in the future of computing. But one thing is certain: Devices will be reading and writing information faster, and storing it at ever...

NIST Chips Help BICEP2 Telescope Find Direct Evidence of Origin of the Universe

March 18, 2014

Editor’s Note (Feb. 3, 2025): After this NIST news article was published, the BICEP2 team members found an error in their analysis and retracted their...

Magnetic Attraction: Physicists Pay Homage to the SQUID at 50

March 11, 2014

From humble beginnings in a series of accidental discoveries, SQUIDs have invaded and enhanced many areas of science and medicine, thanks, in part, to the...

Schematic showing metal-organic framework materials on a surface. Their expansion, which is induced by an infrared laser, is detected using the tip of an atomic force microscope.

Looking Inside: Assessing the Chemical Composition of a Metal-Organic Framework with Nanoscale Resolution

March 11, 2014

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST), in collaboration with researchers from University of Lyon, France, have applied a...

Aerosol Contents: How Much Is In That Can?

March 5, 2014

The work of NIST can be found in many unexpected places in American life -- including store shelves containing different kinds of aerosol products. So perhaps...

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