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Metrology

Optical / photometry / laser metrology

News and Updates

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Photons by the Numbers

September 25, 2014

A NIST team is at work on what promises to be one of the world's most accurate methods for generating a specified number of photons, and has devised a method to...

Calibrating Cancer Radiotherapy Beams Using Light and Sound

September 17, 2014

Doctors shrink tumors with radiation therapy, but a badly calibrated beam can cause serious complications. Scientists in NIST's Radiation Physics Division in...

Now You See It: Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in a Silicon Nitride Optomechanical Crystal

April 9, 2014

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) have observed electromagnetically induced transparency at room temperature and...

NIST Gives Astronomers a Better Ruler in the Search for Extrasolar Planets

March 26, 2014

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have rejuvenated a technique for finding planets near distant stars.* New measurements...

Controllable Mode Competition in a Phonon Laser

November 19, 2013

Using a novel realization of a "phonon laser," scientists at PML and the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) have observed and learned to control a process called...

Force to be Reckoned With: NIST Measures Laser Power with Portable Scale

October 22, 2013

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a novel method for measuring laser power by reflecting the light off...

NIST Carbon Nanotube Chips Go Ballooning for Climate Science

October 22, 2013

A huge plastic balloon floated high in the skies over New Mexico on Sept. 29, 2013, carrying instruments to collect climate-related test data with the help of...

NIST Unveils Prototype Video Imaging System for Remote Detection of Hidden Threats

September 30, 2013

By adapting superconducting technology used in advanced telescope cameras, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built a...

High-Efficiency Photon Source Brings Day of Reckoning Closer for a Famous Quantum Test

June 25, 2013

Physicists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) are edging ever closer to getting really...

A NIST team has created an ultraviolet (UV) metamaterial formed of alternating nanolayers of silver (green) and titanium dioxide (blue)

The Better to See You With: Scientists Build Record-Setting Metamaterial Flat Lens

May 23, 2013

For the first time, scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new type of lens that bends and focuses...

Seeing the Oceans in Their True Colors

April 3, 2013

Much of what is known about the state of the Earth's oceans, and how they change over time, comes from satellite monitoring of reflected and thermally emitted...

NIST Boulder researcher Johannes (Hannes) Hubmayr

NIST Goes to the End of the Earth for Measurement Science

April 3, 2013

NIST Boulder researcher Johannes (Hannes) Hubmayr recently spent several weeks at the South Pole Telescope, where he optimized the performance of a NIST camera...

NIST Tests Underscore Potential Hazards of Green Laser Pointers

March 20, 2013

Using a low-cost apparatus designed to quickly and accurately measure the properties of handheld laser devices, National Institute of Standards and Technology...

High Efficiency in the Fastest Single-Photon Detector System

February 19, 2013

A single photon may not seem like much of a catch. But detecting photons one-by-one with near-perfect reliability is formidably difficult. It is also an...

The circular patch of carbon nanotubes on a pink silicon backing is one component of NIST's new cryogenic radiometer, shown with a quarter for scale.

NIST's 'Nanotubes on a Chip' May Simplify Optical Power Measurements

January 24, 2013

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has demonstrated a novel chip-scale instrument made of carbon nanotubes that may simplify absolute...

'Standard Quantum Limit' Smashed, Could Mean Better Fiber-Optic Comms

January 8, 2013

Communicating with light may soon get a lot easier, hints recent research* from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of...

UV Ray of Hope for Safer Drinking Water

December 19, 2012

A group of researchers from PML's Sensor Science Division is part of a project that will have a direct effect on improved safety of the nation's drinking water...

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...

Devices to Measure Temperature (and More) with Light

November 28, 2012

For nearly a century, the instrument of choice for accurate temperature measurements in the range relevant to manufacturing and biomedical applications (–190 °C...

NIST Measurement Advance Could Speed Innovation in Solar Devices

July 25, 2012

A new versatile measurement system devised by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) accurately and quickly measures the...

JILA Frequency Comb Helps Evaluate Novel Biomedical Decontamination Method

June 14, 2012

Like many new measurement tools, the laser frequency comb seemed at first a curiosity but has found more practical uses than originally imagined. The technique...

NIST Effort Could Improve High-Tech Medical Scanners

June 12, 2012

A powerful color-based imaging technique is making the jump from remote sensing to the operating room—and a team of scientists* at the National Institute of...

NIST Mini-sensor Measures Magnetic Activity in Human Brain

April 19, 2012

A miniature atom-based magnetic sensor developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has passed an important research milestone by...

Colorized micrograph of multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Prototype NIST Device Measures Absolute Optical Power in Fiber at Nanowatt Levels

December 20, 2011

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a prototype device capable of absolute measurements of optical power...

UV Lithography: Taking Extreme Measures

December 9, 2011

Sometime soon, microchip fabricators will take the next major step in the relentless reduction of feature size, from the current minimum of 22 nm down to 10 nm...

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