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Metrology

Electrical / electromagnetic metrology

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NIST Invents Fundamental Component for ‘Spintronic’ Computing

April 26, 2017

NIST has been granted a patent for technology that may hasten the advent of a long-awaited new generation of high-performance, low-energy computers....

Supercomputing: Probing the Future

April 25, 2017

NIST scientists have developed a novel automated probe system for evaluating the performance of computer components designed to run 100 times faster than today...

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...

Portable Frequency Comb Rolls Out of the Lab

March 20, 2014

A PML team is hitting the road with a fine-tooth comb. Scientists in the Quantum Electronics and Photonics Division have devised a portable optical frequency...

A Primary Voltage Standard for the Whole World

April 4, 2013

PML researchers are on the verge of reaching a long-sought major goal: Providing the world with a programmable quantum voltage standard that has an uncertainty...

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...

New Platform Developed to Measure and Exploit Optomechanical Interactions

December 12, 2012

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and Caltech have developed a new design platform for measuring and exploiting strong...

'Magic Zero' Technique Reduces Atomic Clock Uncertainty

December 5, 2012

Scientists from a PML- Joint Quantum Institute (JQI)* group have devised and demonstrated a novel method** for making the most precise measurements to date of...

1000 Calibration Reports . . . And Counting

November 21, 2012

The U.S. Internet – and indeed any communication system that sends information by fiber-optic cable – depends critically on strong, clear signals propagating...

Enriched Silicon: Going for Four Nines

November 20, 2012

Any eventual quantum computer, no matter how it may be configured, will need a way to store and manipulate information in qubits – the quantum counterpart of a...

Coming Soon: Tabletop Molecular Movies

November 5, 2012

One of the most urgently sought-after goals in modern science is the ability to observe the detailed dynamics of chemical reactions as they happen – that is, on...

New Boulder Clean Room Open for Business

November 2, 2012

After months of construction, installation, troubleshooting, and testing, the new clean room at NIST's Precision Measurement Laboratory complex on the Boulder...

A green laser beam rotates around the toroidal BEC, acting as a sort of "optical paddle."

The First Controllable Atom SQUID

November 2, 2012

Scientists have created the first controllable atomic circuit that functions analogously to a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and allows...

SEM image of the waveguide cross-section of the low-noise frequency converter

CNST Researchers Demonstrate Low-Noise, Chip-Based Optical Wavelength Converter

September 5, 2012

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology have demonstrated a low-noise device for changing the wavelength of light using...

Disseminating the Kilogram, No Strings Attached

August 24, 2012

The impending redefinition of the kilogram presents a weighty dilemma. Methods to be used to realize the redefined kilogram are based on the Planck constant and...

A close-up photo of the center of the experimental set-up. The small transparent chamber that holds the ultracold rubidium atoms is surrounded by a dotted line.

Simulating Superconductors with a Touch of Disorder

July 26, 2012

Since their discovery in 1986, high-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors have been the subject of intense interest to researchers. But the mechanism behind the...

MEMS Reference Material: Tiny Dimensions, Big Impact

July 23, 2012

Over the past two decades, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have become ubiquitous, with applications in cell phones, ink-jet printers, accelerometers and...

man sits on a chair in front of a power meter

Laser Radiometry: Powering Up

June 11, 2012

"If you made a long distance phone call or sent an email today, or if you're wearing clothes, then you are benefiting directly from our laser services," says...

Looking At and Into the Ultra-Small

June 8, 2012

NIST is taking a huge step into the ultra-small with the Precision Imaging Facility (PIF) now being outfitted in new Precision Measurement Laboratory on the...

Micromechanical Mirror Performs Under Pressure...Of Light

April 6, 2012

A team of scientists from PML's Quantum Measurement Division has designed and tested a novel device [1] that may lead to substantial progress in the new and...

Schematic diagram of the fast light experiment.

First, Fast, and Faster

April 6, 2012

Scientists in PML's Quantum Measurement Division have produced the first superluminal light pulses made by using a technique called four-wave mixing, creating...

Optically pumped GaN nanowire laser shown glowing orange.

Bright Future for GaN Nanowires

November 25, 2011

The gallium nitride nanowires grown by PML scientists may only be a few tenths of a micrometer in diameter, but they promise a very wide range of applications...

Adding Up Photons with a TES

November 14, 2011

Scientists have demonstrated that a superconducting detector called a transition edge sensor (TES) is capable of counting the number of as many as 1,000 photons...

Redefining the SI Base Units

November 2, 2011

Note: Much more recent information is available about redefinition of the SI units. For a comprehensive general overview, see How to Weigh Everything from...

PML Develops Graphene Fabrication Capability

October 3, 2011

Graphene – a single-layer planar sheet of carbon atoms bound in a "chicken-wire" lattice—has become the object of intense international research ever since its...

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