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Quantum Communications

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Spotlight: Meet a Mentor for Summer Undergraduates: NIST Quantum Physicist Krister Shalm

January 23, 2023

Quantum physicist Krister Shalm has a few spots in his laboratory for motivated undergrads. Do you know any STEM-centric college students who might be...

Jacob Davidson poses standing behind a large piece of scientific equipment with wires and lenses.

Spotlight: Into the Postdoc Process With NIST’s Jake Davidson

December 22, 2022

From one applicant to another: It’s going to work out fine!

Watch NIST’s ‘Atomic Television’ Live and in Color

August 17, 2022

Researchers have adapted their atom-based radio receiver to display live TV and video games.

NIST Researchers Develop Miniature Lens for Trapping Atoms

August 1, 2022

Atoms are notoriously difficult to control. They zigzag like fireflies, tunnel out of the strongest containers and jitter even at temperatures near absolute...

NIST-led Research Shows Advantages of Quantum-Enabled Communications for Internet

August 1, 2022

In the Internet, laser light is used to carry signals to intended destinations. Such optical communications enabled the establishment of the global Internet and...

NIST Researchers Demonstrate Quantum Entanglement with Distant, Synchronized Network Nodes

August 1, 2022

The potential of quantum communications lies in the phenomena called "entanglement." It involves entangling two or more subatomic particles, like photons, which...

A tiny glass vial on a white stand has a copper headphone-shaped structure over it.

Custom ‘Headphones’ Boost Atomic Radio Reception 100-Fold

May 23, 2022

The structure — a square overhead loop connecting two square panels — increases the incoming radio signal, or electric field, applied to the gaseous atoms in...

Strobe Light for 5G: NIST Imaging System Spotlights the Tiny Mechanical Hearts at the Core of Every Cellphone

February 4, 2022

Inside every cellphone lies a tiny mechanical heart, beating several billion times a second. These micromechanical resonators play an essential role in...

NIST Researchers Resurrect and Improve a Technique for Detecting Transistor Defects

February 3, 2022

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have revived and improved a once-reliable technique to identify and count defects in...

NIST Achieves New Levels of Radio Frequency Signal Synthesis with Quantum-based Accuracy.

December 20, 2021

CTL in collaboration with the University of Colorado has demonstrated a tenfold increase in the amplitude of microwave-frequency waveforms generated by a...

Exploring quantum gravity—for whom the pendulum swings.

August 18, 2021

When it comes to a marriage with quantum theory, gravity is the lone holdout among the four fundamental forces in nature. The three others—the electromagnetic...

Gray ovals on blue background are linked to curved gray lines.

NIST Team Directs and Measures Quantum Drum Duet

May 6, 2021

Like conductors of a spooky symphony, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have “entangled” two small mechanical drums and...

A photon is absorbed, creating an electron–hole pair (carrier pair).

Light Fantastic: Counting Single Photons at Unprecedented Rates

April 12, 2021

In high-end 21 st century communications, information travels in the form of a stream of light pulses typically traveling through fiber optic cables. Each pulse...

Quantum Economic Development Consortium Confirms Steering Committee

September 16, 2020

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) has formally established its steering committee with the signing of participation...

NIST Scientists Create New Recipe for Single-Atom Transistors

May 11, 2020

Once unimaginable, transistors consisting only of several-atom clusters or even single atoms promise to become the building blocks of a new generation of...

A New Playbook for Interference

December 17, 2019

Particles can sometimes act like waves, and photons (particles of light) are no exception. Just as waves create an interference pattern, like ripples on a pond...

What a Switch! NIST-Led Team Develops Tiny Low-Energy Device to Rapidly Reroute Light in Computer Chips

November 14, 2019

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have developed an optical switch that routes light from one...

Entangling Photons of Different Colors

February 25, 2019

Some of the most advanced communication systems now under development rely on the properties of quantum science to store and transport information. However...

NIST Launches Consortium to Support Development of Quantum Industry

September 28, 2018

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has signed a cooperative research and development...

Driving the Universal Quantum Bus

September 12, 2017

NIST scientists have achieved a world record in detecting the intensity of an ultra-faint source of light, equaling the capabilities of the deep-space...

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...

Four images showing circular grating for extracting single photons from a quantum dot

NIST Method for Spotting Quantum Dots Could Help Make High-Performance Nanophotonic Devices

August 10, 2015

Life may be as unpredictable as a box of chocolates, but ideally, you always know what you're going to get from a quantum dot. A quantum dot should produce one...

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...

New Temporal Filtering Technique Improves Solid-State Single Photon Sources

May 8, 2013

An international collaboration led by researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) has demonstrated a novel temporal filtering...

Photons Emitted by Quantum Dots Can be Made Indistinguishable Through Quantum Frequency Conversion

December 19, 2012

An international collaboration led by researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology has demonstrated the ability to make photons emitted...

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