News and Updates

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Moonlight Measurement on a Hawaiian Volcano

April 22, 2024

For several years, a team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been building a robotically operated moonlight

Illustration shows tiny columns of light in different colors standing vertically along circuits on a chip.

Spotlight: Chip-Scale Frequency Combs Can Be Integrated With Other Sensors

April 2, 2024

Frequency combs — specialized lasers that act like rulers to measure light — are now being brought down to a low-power, chip-scale form. NIST researchers David

Researchers develop a new type of frequency comb that promises to further boost the accuracy of time keeping

March 14, 2024

Chip-based devices known as frequency combs, which measure the frequency of light waves with unparalleled precision, have revolutionized time keeping, the

Do the Bump: NIST Scientists Perfect Miniaturized Technique to Generate Precise Wavelengths of Visible Laser Light

November 28, 2023

In research, sometimes the bumpy path proves to be the best one. By creating tiny, periodic bumps in a miniature racetrack for light, researchers at the

NIST Researchers Develop a Breakthrough COVID-19 Detection Technology

October 2, 2023

“Only connect” is the most famous line in the British novelist E. M. Forster’s writings. Forster was urging the readers of his book Howard’s End to make

Measuring Up: NIST’s Missile Defense Transfer Radiometer

September 29, 2023

If you’re undergoing a missile attack and that missile is above the atmosphere, the best place to destroy it is while it’s still in space. To do that, you need

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

Unity in the Photon Community

September 12, 2023

The creation and detection of single photons (the smallest units of light) has grown in a few decades from an experimental laboratory pursuit to an important

New NIST Licensing Opportunity Teems with Potential Applications

July 5, 2023

Max Planck, one of the Twentieth Century’s most eminent physicists, observed, "An experiment is a question that science poses to Nature, and a measurement is

NIST-Designed Photonic Chip Transforms a Single Beam of Light Into Multiple Beams, Each With a Panoply of Different Properties

June 30, 2023

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised a photonic circuit on a chip that transforms a single incoming beam of

Jun Ye: A Timely Profile

June 26, 2023

Physicist Jun Ye has a knack for making every second count—literally. At JILA, a joint research institute of the University of Colorado and the National

Three new NIST X-ray technology patents are prime licensing opportunities

June 7, 2023

David Gerrold, a prolific American author, and screenwriter, summarizes the progress of the last 120 years when he observes, “In the 20th century, we had a

A new small-scale measurement invention ready for licensing

May 9, 2023

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is the United States’ premier standards and measurements laboratory. NIST’s numerous varied and wide

Manipulating Multiple Lasers on a Single Chip: Paving the Way for a New Generation of Quantum Devices

April 10, 2023

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed chip-scale devices for simultaneously manipulating the color, focus

NIST’s NanoFab Reopens its Doors to Universities, Industry, and Research Institutions

April 3, 2023

In the Lilliputian world of nanofabrication, where billions of microscopic circuit elements are sculpted or imprinted on a fingernail-sized silicon chip

Improved Chip-Scale Color Conversion Lasers Could Enable Many Next-generation Quantum Devices

March 28, 2023

In two new studies, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have greatly improved the efficiency and power output of a series

Solved: The Mystery of the Cloudy Filters

March 2, 2023

There’s a mystery happening in some satellites facing the Sun, and scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Laboratory

A yellow buoy with a red base floats in the sea under a blue sky.

Ocean Color System Gets a ‘Refresh,’ Allowing for More Precise and Accurate Measurements

January 3, 2023

NIST, NOAA and other partners have collaborated on an upgrade to an ocean-color sensor called the Marine Optical Buoy, or MOBY.

To Break New Ground With Frequency Combs, a NIST Innovation Plays With the Beat

October 24, 2022

Breakthrough could help Nobel-winning tech measure distances and timing with a pinpoint precision limited only by the quantum nature of light.

Showcasing Innovative NIST Technologies

October 4, 2022

The Technology Partnerships Office (TPO) recently hosted the NIST Innovative Technologies Showcase. It was a virtual event to highlight cutting-edge

Star Light, Star Bright … But Exactly How Bright?

September 22, 2022

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but for astronomers, simply recording images of stars and galaxies isn’t enough. To measure the true size and absolute

Calibrating the Universe: Behind the Scenes, NIST Scientists Play a Critical Role in Improving Gravitational Wave Measurements

August 2, 2022

Space-time ripples, exploding stars, colliding black holes …. and the National Institute of Standards and Technology? NIST doesn’t exactly come to mind when

$diffraction grating$

‘Exceptional’ Research: Unexpected Light Behavior May Be Harnessed to Improve Optical Communications and Sensors

April 21, 2022

Shine a flashlight into murky pond water and the beam won’t penetrate very far. Absorption and scattering rapidly diminishes the intensity of the light beam

Optical / photometry / laser metrology