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Physical Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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New Etch Process Developed at the CNST uses Argon Pulsing to Improve Silicon Etch Rate and Selectivity

September 28, 2011

Engineers in the CNST NanoFab have developed a new plasma etching technique for silicon which improves the etch rate, the mask selectivity, and the sidewall...

CNST Research Explains How Phase Segregation Affects Efficiency in Organic Photovoltaics

September 21, 2011

Recent theoretical work conducted at the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology explains the surprisingly small effect of macroscale phase segregation...

CNST Researchers Use Nanophotonics to More Efficiently Extract Photons from Single Semiconductor Quantum Dots

September 14, 2011

An international team of researchers led by the CNST has developed a new type of nanophotonic cavity that improves the efficiency of photon collection from...

CNST and MML Researchers Demonstrate an Electrochromic Nanoplasmonic Optical Switch

August 31, 2011

In a recent article in Nano Letters,* CNST researchers describe a new high-contrast, low operating-voltage, electrochemical optical switch that uses a volume of...

NIST Achieves Record-Low Error Rate for Quantum Information Processing with One Qubit

August 30, 2011

Thanks to advances in experimental design, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have achieved a record-low probability of...

Ion Armageddon: Measuring the Impact Energy of Highly Charged Ions

August 30, 2011

Much like a meteor impacting a planet, highly charged ions hit really hard and can do a lot of damage, albeit on a much smaller scale. And much like geologists...

NIST/JQI Researcher Ian Spielman to Receive 2011 Junior BEC Award

August 30, 2011

Ian Spielman, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute, a collaborative enterprise of...

Better 'Photon Loops' May Be Key to Computer and Physics Advances

August 22, 2011

Surprisingly, transmitting information-rich photons thousands of miles through fiber-optic cable is far easier than reliably sending them just a few nanometers...

Kinder, Gentler Cell Capture Method Could Aid Medical Research

August 16, 2011

A research team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has come up with a potential solution to a two-pronged problem in medical research...

CNST Researchers Observe Nanoscale Charge Transport in Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

August 10, 2011

Researchers in the CNST have used photoconductive atomic force microscopy (PCAFM) to characterize the nanoscale structure of organic photovoltaic (OPV)...

NIST Physicists 'Entangle' Two Atoms Using Microwaves for the First Time

August 10, 2011

BOULDER, Colo. – Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have for the first time linked the quantum properties of two separated...

CNST Researchers Elucidate Micro-Optical Techniques for Solid-State Materials Characterization

July 27, 2011

In a chapter of the recently published book Optical Techniques for Solid-State Materials Characterization,* CNST researchers provide a detailed overview and...

The Constants They Are A Changin': NIST Posts Latest Adjustments to Fundamental Figures

July 19, 2011

The electromagnetic force has gotten a little stronger, gravity a little weaker, and the size of the smallest "quantum" of energy is now known a little better...

Piece of Cake: Arrays of Long Nanotubes May Help Measure Terahertz Laser Power

July 19, 2011

Terahertz radiation can penetrate numerous materials—plastic, clothing, paper and some biological tissues—making it an attractive candidate for applications...

University of Maryland and CNST Collaborators Publish a Comprehensive Overview of Electronic Transport in Graphene

July 13, 2011

Researchers from the University of Maryland and the CNST's Shaffique Adam have recently published a detailed review of the electronic transport properties of...

CNST's Kartik Srinivasan Receives Sigma Xi Young Scientist Award

July 6, 2011

CNST researcher Kartik Srinivasan was honored with the Sigma Xi Young Scientist Award for 2011. He shared this prestigious prize with Sheng Lin-Gibson, Acting...

NIST Prototype 'Optics Table on a Chip' Places Microwave Photon in Two Colors at Once

July 6, 2011

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a tunable superconducting circuit on a chip that can place a single...

NIST's superconducting circuit containing a 'micro drum' sitting atop of a penny to show how much smaller it is.

Cooler Than Ever: NIST Mechanical Micro-Drum Chilled to Quantum Ground State

July 6, 2011

BOULDER, Colo. – Showcasing new tools for widespread development of quantum circuits made of mechanical parts, scientists from the National Institute of...

Colorized micrograph of ultrafast single-photon detector

Key Ingredient: Change in Material Boosts Prospects of Ultrafast Single-photon Detector

June 30, 2011

By swapping one superconducting material for another, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have found a practical way to...

CNST Researchers Demonstrate Electo-Optic Modulation of Single Photons from a Quantum Dot

June 29, 2011

In a recent article in Applied Physics Letters,* CNST researchers demonstrated how commercially available electro-optic modulators can be used to tailor the...

Photo of UC graduate student Matt Kirchner fine-tuning an ultra-stable microwave generator at NIST

A Quiet Phase: NIST Optical Tools Produce Ultra-low-noise Microwave Signals

June 27, 2011

By combining advanced laser technologies in a new way, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have generated microwave signals...

John Cahn to Receive 2011 Kyoto Prize For Fundamental Contributions to Materials Science

June 24, 2011

John Cahn, an emeritus senior fellow and materials scientist at the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), was named...

Cross-section of a high-temperature superconducting cable design invented at NIST.

Compact High-Temperature Superconducting Cable Wins 'R&D 100' Award

June 22, 2011

A method developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder for making thin...

CNST Team Calculates the Electronic Transport Properties of Graphene Stacks

June 22, 2011

Anticipating forthcoming experiments, a CNST team has shown that few layer graphene stacks have favorable transport properties that could enable engineering of...

CNST Offers Insights into Metallic Ferromagnetism Using Spin Polarized Electron Probes

June 15, 2011

The CNST's Daniel Pierce has provided an overview of three decades of applications of spin-polarized measurement techniques to understanding metallic...

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