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Physical Measurement Laboratory

Quantum Measurement Division

News and Updates

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Topic Area

Low Error-Rate Detector System for Telecommunications

December 2, 2014

NIST scientists have devised an experimental photon-detection system for communications with error rates far below even the most ideal conventional designs

Trouble with a Capital 'G'

October 27, 2014

NIST has taken part in a new push to address a persistent and growing problem in physics: the value of G. The Newtonian constant of gravitation, used to

Photons by the Numbers

September 25, 2014

A NIST team is at work on what promises to be one of the world's most accurate methods for generating a specified number of photons, and has devised a method to

It's a Dynamic World, Now NIST Can Help You Measure Its Changes

August 1, 2014

Crash-test dummies, yarn-spinning machines and steel girders in bridges. What do they have in common? Look inside them all and you find transducers, devices

Rush a Light Wave and You'll Break Its Data, say NIST Scientists

May 29, 2014

Quantum information can't break the cosmic speed limit, according to researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the

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

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

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 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

Stirred, Then Shaken: NIST Atomtronic Study May Pave the Way for New Devices

February 19, 2014

While pursuing the goal of turning a cloud of ultracold atoms into a completely new kind of circuit element, physicists at the National Institute of Standards

Hysteresis in a Quantized BEC Superfluid

February 14, 2014

Scientists at NIST's Physical Measurement Laboratory and the NIST-sponsored Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), with collaborators elsewhere, have observed a

double-paddle oscillator in its mounting, seen from below

Surface Detail: Oscillator to Explore Secrets of Mass Variation

January 30, 2014

It might seem that when the world agrees on a new definition of the kilogram based on a fixed value of a physical constant, as is expected soon, no one will

New Value for the Planck Constant May Hasten Electronic Kilogram

January 14, 2014

After two years of difficult and meticulous work examining, refurbishing, and testing the aging workhorse watt balance called NIST-3, PML researchers have used

NIST/JQI Team 'Gets the Edge' on Photon Transport in Silicon

October 22, 2013

Scientists have a new way to edge around a difficult problem in quantum physics, now that a research team from the National Institute of Standards and

New Photon Detector for Advanced Communications Knows When to Not Know

June 26, 2013

In some standardized tests, the graders add in a penalty factor for wrong answers to discourage students from randomly guessing. It turns out that there's a

High-Efficiency Photon Source Brings Day of Reckoning Closer for a Famous Quantum Test

June 25, 2013

Physicists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) are edging ever closer to getting really

New AC Voltage Devices: Factor of Three Improvement in Uncertainty

June 18, 2013

After years of effort and scores of iterations, PML researchers have developed a new generation of devices that can reduce the uncertainties in ac voltage

This artist’s conception shows atoms in a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) being pushed by laser light.

First Observation of Spin Hall Effect in a Quantum Gas Is Step Toward 'Atomtronics'

June 5, 2013

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have reported the first observation of the "spin Hall effect" in a Bose-Einstein

Don't Call It Vaporware: Scientists Use Cloud of Atoms as Optical Memory Device

April 3, 2013

Talk about storing data in the cloud. Scientists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the

Single Photon from a Quantum Emitter? It's a Matter of Timing...

April 3, 2013

Many systems envisioned for practical quantum information processing require the use of single, indistinguishable photons as carriers of information and logic

Large Mass Calibration -- A Matter of Scale

March 5, 2013

Few substances are tracked more closely and stored more carefully than the nuclear waste produced at power plants and elsewhere. So the properties of the large

Marlin Kraft adjusts a current shunt connection.

Minimizing Uncertainty in Current Events

January 28, 2013

The electrical power industry – and the equipment makers and calibration laboratories that serve it – need to be able to quantify DC currents of hundreds or

NIST Accepting Proposals for Fundamental Measurement Grants

January 24, 2013

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is soliciting proposals to support significant research in the field of fundamental measurement or the

'Standard Quantum Limit' Smashed, Could Mean Better Fiber-Optic Comms

January 8, 2013

Communicating with light may soon get a lot easier, hints recent research* from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of

Uses and Users of NIST's Atomic Spectra Database

December 19, 2012

The online Atomic Spectra Database (ASD) provides the most authoritative information about atomic spectra available anywhere, and it is used by researchers

Advanced communications
-Open Radio Access Network (Open-RAN)
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Electronics
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Fire
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Health
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Nanotechnology
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