An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have upgraded their compact atomic gyroscope to enable multitasking measurement...
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have harnessed the phenomenon of “quantum squeezing” to amplify and measure trillionths...
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...
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators have demonstrated a compact frequency-comb apparatus that rapidly...
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have teleported a computer circuit instruction known as a quantum logic operation...
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and partners have demonstrated an experimental, next-generation atomic clock—ticking at...
Physicists have demonstrated a new way to obtain the essential details that describe an isolated quantum system, such as a gas of atoms, through direct...
Ordinarily, you won’t encounter a radiation thermometer until somebody puts one in your ear at the doctor’s office or you point one at your forehead when you’re...
Imagine being able to shape a pulse of light in any conceivable manner—compressing it, stretching it, splitting it in two, changing its intensity or altering...
Look at an astronomical marvel like the Cat’s Eye Nebula at right, with an average gas temperature about twice as hot as the surface of the Sun. It seems...
Eight years ago, NIST researchers developed a groundbreaking microscope that uses a narrow beam of low-energy lithium ions, rather than a beam of light or...
NIST researchers have explored in unprecedented detail a new breed of catalysts that allow some chemical reactions, which normally require high heat, to proceed...
JILA scientists have developed a fast, simple sample preparation method that enhances imaging of DNA to better analyze its physical properties and interactions...
Nanowire gurus at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that, thanks to a special type of...
A new measurement approach proposed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) could lead to a better way to calibrate computed...
In collaboration with industry, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made the first portable prototype of the Fixed...
Just as a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, the deformations and fractures that cause catastrophic failure in materials begin with a few...
Some of the most advanced communication systems now under development rely on the properties of quantum science to store and transport information. However...
Moiré patterns are observed throughout nature, arising from the interference between two overlaid patterns. They are especially pervasive in digital photography...
JILA researchers have made a long-lived, record-cold gas of molecules that follow the wave patterns of quantum mechanics instead of the strictly particle nature...
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have “flash-frozen” a flat crystal of 150 beryllium ions (electrically charged atoms)...
The hunt for Earth-like planets, and perhaps extraterrestrial life, just got more precise, thanks to record-setting starlight measurements made possible by a...
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO), have developed a...
Three of the pioneering instruments that unveiled the magnetic and electronic structure of surfaces in exquisite detail are now on display in the atrium of NIST...