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Metrology

Optical / photometry / laser metrology

News and Updates

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Organization

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...

New Device Design Brings Unparalleled Confidence to Cell Measurements

July 20, 2022

Measuring the numbers and properties of cells moving in a stream — a process called flow cytometry — is critically important to diagnostic medicine...

Now Hear This!

June 30, 2022

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have designed and built an optical device that could set a new standard for measuring...

Seeking COVID’s Kryptonite

June 10, 2022

To disinfect a surface, you can illuminate it with a blast of ultraviolet (UV) light, which is bluer than the human eye can see. But to specifically inactivate...

$diffraction grating$

‘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...

New Telecom Receiver System Checks Reliability of Message Components in Real Time

January 25, 2022

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have invented and demonstrated a novel scheme for substantially improving the detection...

Measuring Up: Light reflection and transmission

January 4, 2022

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently completed major upgrades to two key instruments serving critical national needs: measuring...

Sneezes, Rain Clouds and Ink Jets: NIST Improves the Ability of Optical Microscopes to Measure the Volume of Microdroplets

December 20, 2021

Sneezes, rain clouds, and ink jet printers: They all produce or contain liquid droplets so tiny it would take several billion of them to fill a liter bottle...

19th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD19)

July 29, 2021

The 19th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD19) was an opportunity for researchers from around the world to exchange information about the...

Escape From Flatland: Calibration Method Enables Microscopes to Make Accurate Measurements in All 3 Dimensions

June 24, 2021

Conventional microscopes provide essential information about samples in two dimensions — the plane of the microscope slide. But flat is not all that. In many...

Detecting mid-infrared light, one photon at a time

June 1, 2021

For some 30 years, scientists have used superconducting materials to record the tiniest specks of light imaginable — individual photons, or single particles of...

Man standing next to equipment on top of building during a sunset.

Commerce Building Now Part of NOAA, NIST Weather and Greenhouse Gas Tracking Network

April 19, 2021

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have installed a Doppler lidar...

As Good as it Gets: NIST Develops Its Fourth Generation Wire Micrometer that Rivals Best in the World

March 11, 2021

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a dramatically improved laser-based instrument that measures the...

A Better Way to Measure Acceleration

March 8, 2021

You’re going at the speed limit down a two-lane road when a car barrels out of a driveway on your right. You slam on the brakes, and within a fraction of a...

Four people stand around an instrument on a tripod next to the open door of a white van.

Spotlight: Measuring the Atmosphere’s Volatile Organic Compounds

January 23, 2021

Investigating colors in the wind — NIST researchers expand beyond a current spectroscopy technique for measuring greenhouse gases to now detect volatile organic...

What Laser Color Do You Like?

October 13, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland have developed a microchip technology that can convert...

Shrinking (Ultra)Violet

July 21, 2020

While awaiting full access to their labs due to COVID-19 restrictions, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have taken this...

cryogenically cooled laser microresonator frequency comb

Comb on a Chip: New Design for ‘Optical Ruler’ Could Revolutionize Clocks, Telescopes, Telecommunications

June 22, 2020

Just as a meter stick with hundreds of tick marks can be used to measure distances with great precision, a device known as a laser frequency comb, with its...

Yoshi Ohno poses behind a table holding brightly colored foods like red peppers and bananas.

Spotlight: Yoshi Ohno and the Vision Lab

May 12, 2020

In arguably the coziest laboratory on NIST’s campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland, fellow Yoshi Ohno and his colleagues make measurements on the white light...

Helping Laser Scanners Measure Up

April 23, 2020

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised a novel, accurate, easy-to-operate, time- and labor-saving way to provide...

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