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Physical Measurement Laboratory

Applied Physics Division

News and Updates

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NIST Physicists ‘Squeeze’ Light to Cool Microscopic Drum Below Quantum Limit

January 11, 2017

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have cooled a mechanical object to a temperature lower than previously thought possible

New Chip-Based Sensor Finds Power in Versatility

April 26, 2016

Whether you're using a landline or cell phone, there's a good chance that the signal spends at least some time traveling over fiber-optic cables. To ensure that

NIST Develops First Widely Useful Measurement Standard for Breast Cancer MRI

March 23, 2016

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed the first widely useful standard for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of

New Tool for Breast Cancer Screening

March 14, 2016

A little over three years ago, NIST scientist Katy Keenan came back from a conference with an ambitious idea: to improve the quality of magnetic resonance

Transforming Welding with Comprehensive NIST Metrology

February 2, 2016

Welding has been around, in some form, for centuries. Today it enables a large percentage of the U.S. economy,* thanks to its role in the creation of a diverse

NIST Featured in Media's Top Science Stories of 2015

January 6, 2016

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is featured in several of the news media's lists of the top science stories of 2015. NIST's change at

Colorized micrograph of a NIST single-photon detector

Less Jitter, More Bits: New Material for Detecting Photons Captures More Quantum Information

January 5, 2016

Detecting individual particles of light just got a bit more precise—by 74 picoseconds to be exact—thanks to advances in materials by National Institute of

'Squeezed' Motion in a Massive Object

December 22, 2015

Everyone expects objects at the atomic scale to follow the weird rules of quantum mechanics. But in the past few years, scientists at NIST and elsewhere have

Seeing Into Cells More Clearly

December 7, 2015

NIST scientists, with collaborators at the University of Michigan, have designed and demonstrated a new and easily tunable, high-contrast scattering agent for

NIST physicist Krister Shalm with the photon source used in the Bell test

NIST Team Proves 'Spooky Action at a Distance' is Really Real

November 10, 2015

BOULDER, Colo.—Einstein was wrong about at least one thing: There are, in fact, "spooky actions at a distance," as now proven by researchers at the National

How NIST Detected Spooky Actions at a Distance

November 10, 2015

This graphic describes how researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) used pairs of light particles to perform a "Bell test,"

GaN Nanowires: Knowing Which End Is Up

September 21, 2015

Many people who have heard of gallium nitride (GaN) know it as the semiconductor used in bright light-emitting diodes for flashlights and energy-efficient light

Vacuum Fluctuations: Measuring the Unreal

June 23, 2015

In this universe, anything that can vibrate will vibrate, and no oscillator is ever truly at rest. Even when an object such as an atom or subatomic particle

Precocious GEM: Shape-Shifting Sensor Can Report Conditions from Deep in the Body

March 27, 2015

Scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have devised and demonstrated a new

NIST's MRI Measurement Tools to Help Diagnose Veterans' Traumatic Brain Injuries

March 17, 2015

More than 300,000 U.S. veterans have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in recent years, a legacy of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But these

NIST's Michael Boss to Receive Tech Transfer Award for MRI Calibration Standard

February 24, 2015

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physicist Michael Boss will receive the 2015 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Award for Excellence in

Hybrid Memory Device for Superconducting Computing

January 23, 2015

A team of NIST scientists has devised and demonstrated a novel nanoscale memory technology for superconducting computing that could hasten the advent of an

NIST Fires Up Extended Calibration Service for Laser Welding and More

December 2, 2014

NIST PML's Sources and Detectors Group has launched a new multikilowatt laser power measurement service capability for high-power lasers of the sort used by

Uniform Nanowire Arrays for Science and Manufacturing

December 2, 2014

Defect-free nanowires with diameters in the range of 100 nanometers (nm) hold significant promise for numerous in-demand applications including printable

Paul Williams and Joshua Hadler operating the NIST calibration service for high-power lasers.

NIST Launches New Calibration Service for High-Power Lasers

October 29, 2014

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has launched a new calibration service for high-power lasers of the sort used by manufacturers for

Photo illustration of NIST experiment using a pair of laser frequency combs

NIST 'Combs' the Atmosphere to Measure Greenhouse Gases

October 29, 2014

By remotely "combing" the atmosphere with a custom laser-based instrument, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in

Better Diagnostic Imaging for Traumatic Brain Injuries

October 23, 2014

Image-calibration technology designed and developed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in collaboration with the

NIST Laser Comb System Maps 3D Surfaces Remotely for Manufacturing, Forensics

October 7, 2014

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a laser-based imaging system that creates high-definition 3D maps of

NIST chip containing a single-photon detector made of superconducting nanowires. Four chips like this were used in the experiment that entangled three photons.

Three's a Charm: NIST Detectors Reveal Entangled Photon Triplets

September 15, 2014

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have directly entangled three photons in the most technologically useful state for the first time, thanks in

NIST engineer Tasshi Dennis with NIST's solar simulator based on a white light laser.

Novel NIST Laser System Mimics Sunlight to Test Solar Cell Efficiency

May 28, 2014

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a laser-based instrument that generates artificial sunlight to help test

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