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Physical Measurement Laboratory

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Laser Applications Heat Up for Carbon Nanotubes

January 26, 2005

Carbon nanotubes—a hot nanotechnology with many potential uses—may find one of its quickest applications in the next generation of standards for optical power...

Photo of the NIST chip-scale magnetometer

Tiny, Atom-based Detector Senses Weak Magnetic Fields

January 5, 2005

A low-power, magnetic sensor about the size of a grain of rice that can detect magnetic field changes as small as 50 picoteslas—a million times weaker than the...

Chip-Scale Magnetic Sensor Draws on Mini Clock Design

December 29, 2004

A low-power, magnetic sensor about the size of a grain of rice that can detect magnetic field changes as small as 50 picoteslas—a million times weaker than the...

David Wineland and Dietrich Leibfried wear goggles and stand in front of equipment

NIST Demonstrates Data 'Repair Kit' for Quantum Computers

December 1, 2004

A practical method for automatically correcting data-handling errors in quantum computers has been developed and demonstrated by physicists at the National...

New System 'Sees' Crimes on Audiotape

October 26, 2004

The Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a real-time magnetic imaging system that enables criminal...

Scientists Tame 'Hip Hop' Atoms

September 9, 2004

In an effort to put more science into the largely trial and error building of nanostructures, physicists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of...

NIST Unveils Chip-Scale Atomic Clock

August 27, 2004

The heart of a minuscule atomic clock—believed to be 100 times smaller than any other atomic clock—has been demonstrated by scientists at the Commerce...

image 1 (of 3) showing strontium atoms forming a "cube"

Scientists Report First Observation of an "Atomic Air Force"

August 18, 2004

The first sighting of atoms flying in formation has been reported by physicists at the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology...

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

NIST Demonstrates 'Teleportation' of Atomic States for Quantum Computing

June 16, 2004

Physicists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated "teleportation" by transferring key properties...

A Quantum Mechanical 'Tune Up' for Better Measurement

June 4, 2004

By exploiting the weird quantum behavior of atoms, physicists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have...

NIST System Sets Speed Record For Generation of Quantum Keys for 'Unbreakable' Encryption

May 3, 2004

The fastest known cryptographic system based on transmission of single photons—the smallest pulses of light—has been demonstrated by a team at the Commerce...

Deborah S. Jin, NIST physicist, JILA Fellow, and CU adjoint associate professor Opening Statement Press conference on Fermionic Condensates, Jan. 28, 2004

January 28, 2004

Good morning. I am delighted to be here today to tell you about some exciting new results from our lab. I will start with a brief description of what we see in...

NIST/University of Colorado Researchers Create Bose-Einstein "Super Molecule"

November 20, 2003

A super-cold collection of molecules behaving in perfect unison has been created for the first time from a sea of "fermion" atoms by researchers at JILA, a...

Physicist Deborah Jin in front of equipment holding an open lab notebook.

NIST and CU-Boulder Physicist Deborah Jin Wins 2003 MacArthur Fellowship 'Genius Grant' is Worth $500,000 to Researcher

October 6, 2003

Deborah Jin, 34, a physicist at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colo., and adjoint assistant...

Tiny "Test Tubes" May Aid Pharmaceutical R&D

September 26, 2003

Using laser light as tweezers and a scalpel, scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated the use of artificial...

Novel Zigzag Shape Gives Sensors Magnetic Appeal

August 27, 2003

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have designed tiny magnetic sensors in a "zigzag" shape that are simpler in design and...

Satellite Measures Sun's True Power

January 27, 2003

Scientists expect to gain important information about the sun's effect on the Earth's atmosphere and climate from sophisticated instruments—all calibrated by...

Gebbie Wins Service to America Medal

November 14, 2002

The following is an excerpt from the awards ceremony program for the Service to America Medals. The awards are a joint program of Government Executive, National...

NIST Materials Science Pioneer John Cahn To Receive Bower Award from Franklin Institute

January 28, 2002

The Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced today that materials scientist John Cahn will receive the 2002...

NIST Helps Ensure Well-Timed Sledding at Winter Olympics

January 2, 2002

Sliding down the icy side of a mountain on steel runners, racers in the bobsled, luge and skeleton events reach some of the highest speeds of any Olympic Winter...

Cornell and Wieman Share 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics

October 9, 2001

Quotes About the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics Winners Press Conference (Transcript) Bose-Einstein Condensate: A New Form of Matter (backgrounder) Nobel Prize in...

Bose-Einstein Condensate: A New Form of Matter

October 9, 2001

Capturing the "Holy Grail" Eric A. Cornell of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Carl E. Wieman of the University of Colorado at Boulder led...

From Supernova to Smoke Ring: Recent Experiments Underscore Weirdness of the Bose-Einstein Condensate

March 12, 2001

Bose-Einstein condensates can sometimes explode like a pocket-sized supernova, but when they're not doing that they can look like the inside of a cigar bar...

Breakthroughs in Thin-Film Magnetic Devices Earn NIST Stratton Award for Robert D. McMichael

November 30, 2000

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, has presented its 2000 Samuel Wesley...

Gaithersburg Man Honored for Distinguished Science Writing

November 30, 2000

Neil M. Zimmerman, has received the 2000 Edward Uhler Condon Award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the Commerce Department...

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