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Physical Measurement Laboratory

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NIST's Speedy Ions Could Add Zip to Quantum Computers

August 8, 2012

Take that, sports cars! Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) can accelerate their beryllium ions from zero to 100 miles per...

This short movie shows the image of the 'N' in NIST being randomly amplified and de-amplified by the four-wave mixing technique.

Seeing the Light with NIST's New Noiseless Optical Amplifier

August 8, 2012

Most devices that amplify light suffer from the same problem: making the image brighter also adds muddying distortion. Scientists working at the National...

A microfluidic lab on a chip device sitting on a polystyrene dish.

NIST Focuses on Testing Standards to Support Lab on a Chip Commercialization

August 8, 2012

Lab on a chip (LOC) devices—microchip-size systems that can prepare and analyze tiny fluid samples with volumes ranging from a few microliters (millionth of a...

Researchers Track Nanoparticle Dynamics in Three Dimensions

August 1, 2012

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology have used three-dimensional single-particle tracking to measure the dynamic behavior of...

A close-up photo of the center of the experimental set-up. The small transparent chamber that holds the ultracold rubidium atoms is surrounded by a dotted line.

Simulating Superconductors with a Touch of Disorder

July 26, 2012

Since their discovery in 1986, high-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors have been the subject of intense interest to researchers. But the mechanism behind the...

Three NIST Researchers Earn Presidential Honor

July 25, 2012

The White House has announced that three researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will receive the 2011 Presidential Early...

New SRM for Bullet Casings

July 23, 2012

At a time when the reliability of crime lab findings is under increasing scrutiny, PML researchers have provided law enforcement with an important new tool for...

MEMS Reference Material: Tiny Dimensions, Big Impact

July 23, 2012

Over the past two decades, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have become ubiquitous, with applications in cell phones, ink-jet printers, accelerometers and...

The State Armory Building in Boulder, Colorado, was the first home of JILA

JILA Named 'Physics Historic Site' on its 50th Anniversary

July 11, 2012

JILA, a Colorado laboratory known around the world for creating new states of matter and novel laser designs and applications, turns 50 this year and will...

Researchers Demonstrate and Explain Surface Conduction in a Topological Insulator

July 11, 2012

Researchers at the University of Maryland and the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology have for the first time experimentally demonstrated surface...

Shaffique Adam Receives Singapore National Research Foundation Fellowship

June 27, 2012

Shaffique Adam, an NRC Postdoctoral Research Associate in the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, has been awarded a 2012 Singapore National...

NIST Goes the Distance for the Olympics

June 27, 2012

In yet another Olympian feat of measurement, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently calibrated a tape that will be...

Artist's conception of JILA's advance in atomic force microscope (AFM) design.

Not-So-Precious: Stripping Gold From AFM Probes Allows Better Measurement of Picoscale Forces

June 27, 2012

Gold is not necessarily precious—at least not as a coating on atomic force microscope (AFM) probes. JILA researchers found that removing an AFM probe's gold...

illustration of pseudomagnetic fields that confine grahene's electrons and create quntized quantum dot-like energy levels

'Tuning' Graphene Drums Might Turn Conductors to Semiconductors

June 27, 2012

Tightening or relaxing the tension on a drumhead will change the way the drum sounds. The same goes for drumheads made from graphene, only instead of changing...

Hark! Group Demonstrates First Heralded Single Photon Source Made from Silicon

June 27, 2012

In an important step towards more practical quantum information processing, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the...

Graphene Drumheads Tuned to Make Quantum Dots

June 21, 2012

Tightening or relaxing the tension on a drumhead will change the way the drum sounds. The same goes for drumheads made from graphene, only instead of changing...

First Observation of the Hall Effect in a Bose-Einstein Condensate

June 19, 2012

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have observed for the first time the Hall effect in a gas of ultracold atoms. The Hall effect...

JILA Frequency Comb Helps Evaluate Novel Biomedical Decontamination Method

June 14, 2012

Like many new measurement tools, the laser frequency comb seemed at first a curiosity but has found more practical uses than originally imagined. The technique...

NIST Launches New Website to Educate Industry About Alternatives to Mercury Thermometers

June 12, 2012

As part of a larger effort to reduce the amount of mercury, a potent neurotoxin, in the environment, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)...

NIST Effort Could Improve High-Tech Medical Scanners

June 12, 2012

A powerful color-based imaging technique is making the jump from remote sensing to the operating room—and a team of scientists* at the National Institute of...

man sits on a chair in front of a power meter

Laser Radiometry: Powering Up

June 11, 2012

"If you made a long distance phone call or sent an email today, or if you're wearing clothes, then you are benefiting directly from our laser services," says...

Looking At and Into the Ultra-Small

June 8, 2012

NIST is taking a huge step into the ultra-small with the Precision Imaging Facility (PIF) now being outfitted in new Precision Measurement Laboratory on the...

CNST Releases the Spring 2012 Edition of The CNST News

May 25, 2012

The NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) is pleased to announce the release of the spring 2012 edition of The CNST News. This quarterly...

NIST engineer Kate Remley holds two Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) devices with wireless alarm capability.

Improving Safety Measures and Measures of Safety for World Metrology Day 2012

May 17, 2012

World Metrology Day celebrates the signing of the Treaty of the Meter on May 20, 1875.* By signing the treaty, representatives from 17 nations, including the...

Spin Polarized Supercurrents Optimized with a Simple Flip

May 11, 2012

Researchers from Michigan State University, the NIST Center for Neutron Research, and the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology have discovered the...

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