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Physical Measurement Laboratory

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Coming Soon: Tabletop Molecular Movies

November 5, 2012

One of the most urgently sought-after goals in modern science is the ability to observe the detailed dynamics of chemical reactions as they happen – that is, on...

New Boulder Clean Room Open for Business

November 2, 2012

After months of construction, installation, troubleshooting, and testing, the new clean room at NIST's Precision Measurement Laboratory complex on the Boulder...

A green laser beam rotates around the toroidal BEC, acting as a sort of "optical paddle."

The First Controllable Atom SQUID

November 2, 2012

Scientists have created the first controllable atomic circuit that functions analogously to a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and allows...

Bright field transmission electron micrograph showing carbon nanotubes grown from an array of equally-sized iron catalyst particles created by electron beam-induced decomposition of a diiron nonacarbonyl precursor.

Researchers Observe, Control, and Optimize the Growth of Individual Carbon Nanotubes

October 31, 2012

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and Arizona State University have used an environmental scanning transmission electron...

NIST Handbook 44 - 2012 Edition

October 26, 2012

Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices as adopted by the 96th National Conference on Weights and...

Schematic of the disk-cantilever sensor geometry.

Researchers Develop Versatile Optomechanical Sensors for Atomic Force Microscopy

October 24, 2012

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology have developed on-chip optomechanical sensors for atomic force microscopy (AFM) that...

Deborah Jin standing on the staircase at JILA

Deborah Jin of JILA Selected for 2013 Women in Science Award

October 22, 2012

Deborah Jin, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) who works at JILA, has been selected as the North American recipient for...

Princeton/NIST Collaboration Puts Wheels on the Quantum Bus

October 19, 2012

In yet another step toward the realization of a practical quantum computer, scientists working at Princeton and the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) have shown how...

NRI to Lead New Five-Year Effort to Develop Post-CMOS Electronics

October 16, 2012

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced today the selection of the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI), a collaboration of...

New Method Measures Movements of Tiny Devices-At Every Step

October 16, 2012

Makers of minuscule moving machines—the kind being eyed for nanomanufacturing and assembly as well as other uses—do you know where your micro- and nanorobots...

Slip Sliding Our Way: At the Nanoscale, Graphite Can Turn Friction Upside Down

October 16, 2012

If you ease up on a pencil, does it slide more easily? Sure. But maybe not if the tip is sharpened down to nanoscale dimensions. A team of researchers at the...

New Measurement Technique to Fill Critical Need for Fiber Optic Cable Industry

October 15, 2012

In consumer-driven industries, it is critically important to provide customers what they expect when they make their purchases. When you pay for a gallon of gas...

David Wineland leans over a table of lasers to adjust a laser beam

NIST's David J. Wineland Wins 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics

October 9, 2012

David J. Wineland, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has won the 2012 Nobel Prize in...

Physicist David J. Wineland of NIST Boulder Laboratories in Colorado

Congratulations to David Wineland! 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physics

October 9, 2012

We are thrilled at the news that NIST's David Wineland has been awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Professor Serge Haroche of the Collège de...

NIST's Webcast News Briefing on David Wineland's Nobel Prize in Physics

October 9, 2012

NIST's David Wineland has been awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Professor Serge Haroche of the Collège de France and Ecole Normale Supérieure...

False-color SEMs of cross-sectioned hematite films.

Researchers Determine Critical Factors for Improving Performance of a Solar Fuel Catalyst

October 3, 2012

Hydrogen gas that is created using solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen has the potential to be a cost-effective fuel source if the efficiency...

Schematic of an artificial membrane, across which a voltage forces an ionized fluid through the nanopore.

NIST, Columbia Engineering Collaborate on Inexpensive DNA Sequencing Method

October 2, 2012

Rapid, accurate genetic sequencing soon may be within reach of every doctor's office if recent research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology...

Schematic diagram of loophole-free Bell test

Truly Random Numbers — But Not by Chance

October 1, 2012

Life can seem haphazard and chaotic, but true randomness is fundamentally mysterious, elusive, and remarkably difficult to observe. If it can be realized and...

Shaking Up Biomolecules with Light

September 28, 2012

In living organisms, biomolecules such as proteins are constantly in complex motion, bending and flexing in different ways at different points. Each molecule...

Near-Field Scanning Microwave Microscope: Big at the Nanoscale

September 28, 2012

NIST's ability to determine the composition and physics of nanoscale materials and devices is about to improve dramatically with the arrival of a new near-field...

PML Plays a Central Role in Standards Agreement by 22 Federal Agencies

September 27, 2012

PML researchers played a central role in the establishment of new testing and evaluation (T&E) standards for radiation and nuclear detectors about to be adopted...

NIST Handbook 156 - 2012 Edition

September 26, 2012

NIST Handbook 156 - Program Handbook for Engine Fuels, Petroleum and Lubricant Laboratories Introduction This handbook provides guidance on how to establish a...

False-color scanning electron micrograph of a nanophotonic motion sensor.

A Fast and Sensitive Nanophotonic Motion Sensor Developed for Silicon Microdevices

September 19, 2012

Using a microscopic optical sensor that can be batch-fabricated on a silicon chip at low cost, Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and...

Jacob Taylor, NIST Physicist, Receives Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal for Public Service

September 14, 2012

On September 13, 2012, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physicist Jacob Taylor received a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal...

Researchers Introduce New Method for Imaging Defects in Magnetic Nanodevices

September 12, 2012

A team of researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, and the University of Maryland...

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