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Physics

News and Updates

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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

Gray cylinder two inches in diameter, held in gloved fingers

Spotlight: Astro-Etalon

November 25, 2019

A small role can make an astronomical impact, as is the case for a tiny NIST-built piece of a new planet-hunting project from NASA and the National Science

Winners of the 2019 Lab Venture Challenge in Boulder

November 20, 2019

On November 12-13, 2019, Venture Partners at CU Boulder hosted the 2019 Lab Venture Challenge. Think Shark Tank! Eleven entrepreneurs pitched their product to

Square checkerboard with 32 squares on each side surrounded by sunbeam-like lines emanating out from around the board.

NIST’s Light-Sensing Camera May Help Detect Extraterrestrial Life, Dark Matter

November 19, 2019

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made one of the highest-performance cameras ever composed of sensors that count

woman in a blue dress and white sweater stands next to an electron microscope

Spotlight: June Lau

November 18, 2019

Closing in on a clear picture: NIST's June Lau, in collaboration with Brookhaven National Lab and Euclid Techlabs, is giving us a freeze-frame look at the

A woman and a man stand in front of scientific equipment, including a large green tank.

Spotlight: Gillian Nave and Jacob Ward

November 18, 2019

STEM is STELLAR! In November 2019, NIST’s Gillian Nave and Jacob Ward brought celebrations of Mercury’s transit (the point where Mercury passes between the

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

SBIR funds internationally marketable quality audit instrument

November 1, 2019

En’Urga Inc., an advanced diagnostic equipment company, recently found success with a Small Business Innovation Research award from the National Institute of

A twist and a spin: harnessing two quantum properties transforms a neutron beam into a powerful probe of material structure

October 29, 2019

By cleverly manipulating two properties of a neutron beam, NIST scientists and their collaborators have created a powerful probe of materials that have complex

JILA Team Demonstrates Model System for Distribution of More Accurate Time Signals

October 21, 2019

JILA physicists and collaborators have demonstrated the first next-generation “time scale” — a system that incorporates data from multiple atomic clocks to

Take a short course in technology transfer (T2) 101

September 25, 2019

Say the term, “Technology Transfer,” to practicing scientists, engineers, and other technical professionals, and one frequently sees a variety of perplexing and

Six people stand in front of a tan building, cutting a blue ribbon

NIST Unveils New Laboratory Building for Improved National Radiation Measurements

September 24, 2019

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday to unveil a

JILA’s Novel Atomic Clock Design Offers ‘Tweezer’ Control

September 12, 2019

JILA physicists have demonstrated a novel atomic clock design that combines near-continuous operation with strong signals and high stability, features not

Man in black shirt and dark glasses facing camera is adjusting a mirror on a table of lasers and optics. On the left behind him are several electronics boxes topped by a computer monitor showing a blue signal that looks like cats ears.

NIST Team Shows Atoms Can Receive Common Communications Signals

September 5, 2019

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new type of sensor that uses atoms to receive commonly used

Newfound Superconductor Material Could Be the ‘Silicon of Quantum Computers’

August 15, 2019

A potentially useful material for building quantum computers has been unearthed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), whose scientists

Probing the Origin of Alzheimer’s . . . with Transistors

August 7, 2019

A prime suspect in the onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases is a normally benign enzyme that is essential to proper development of the nervous system

Dr. Nicole L. Ritzert is pictured in her ADA lab.

NIST Continues 1920s CRADA Partnership with the American Dental Association

August 1, 2019

The interagency research, which has led to dental products such as tooth-colored composites, the front surface dental mirror, the panoramic x-ray machine

10 NIST Researchers Receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

July 25, 2019

WASHINGTON — Ten researchers from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) received the Presidential Early Career

NIST Physicists Create Record-Setting Quantum Motion

July 22, 2019

Showcasing precise control at the quantum level, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a method for making an

Man wearing clear goggles holding a yellow box in one hand and using the other hand to adjust a table of optics equipment

NIST’s Quantum Logic Clock Returns to Top Performance

July 15, 2019

The quantum logic clock—perhaps best known for showing you age faster if you stand on a stool—has climbed back to the leading performance echelons of the world

Woman with reddish hair and wearing a pink sweater and laser safety glasses reaching over an instrument table and holding a card used to path of lasers.

NIST’s Compact Atomic Gyroscope Displays New Twists

July 11, 2019

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have upgraded their compact atomic gyroscope to enable multitasking measurement

Diagram of a flat surface with orange squares on either side and red and blue stripes in between, with a white ball hovering over a red stripe.

NIST Team Supersizes ‘Quantum Squeezing’ to Measure Ultrasmall Motion

June 20, 2019

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have harnessed the phenomenon of “quantum squeezing” to amplify and measure trillionths

A Bubbly New Way to Detect the Magnetic Fields of Nanometer-Scale Particles

June 10, 2019

As if they were bubbles expanding in a just-opened bottle of champagne, tiny circular regions of magnetism can be rapidly enlarged to provide a precise method

Table covered with lenses and other optical equipment, and a flat screen mounted high in the background showing a yellow squiggly line across the top and a spiky orange line below.

NIST Infrared Frequency Comb Measures Biological Signatures

June 7, 2019

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators have demonstrated a compact frequency-comb apparatus that rapidly

NIST Physicists ‘Teleport’ Logic Operation Between Separated Ions

May 30, 2019

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have teleported a computer circuit instruction known as a quantum logic operation

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