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Physics

News and Updates

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Single Photon from a Quantum Emitter? It's a Matter of Timing...

April 3, 2013

Many systems envisioned for practical quantum information processing require the use of single, indistinguishable photons as carriers of information and logic...

Don't Call It Vaporware: Scientists Use Cloud of Atoms as Optical Memory Device

April 3, 2013

Talk about storing data in the cloud. Scientists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the...

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...

New NIST Microscope Measures Nanomagnet Property Vital to 'Spintronics'

March 14, 2013

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new microscope able to view and measure an important but elusive...

NIST Mechanical Micro-Drum Used as Quantum Memory

March 13, 2013

One of the oldest forms of computer memory is back again—but in a 21st century microscopic device designed by physicists at the National Institute of Standards...

MRI: Contrast Agents of Change

March 5, 2013

Thanks to burgeoning progress in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), it may soon be possible to track and study, in vivo and in real time, heretofore invisible...

NIST Quantum Refrigerator Offers Extreme Cooling and Convenience

March 5, 2013

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a solid-state refrigerator that uses quantum physics in micro- and...

New NIST Time Code to Boost Reception for Radio-Controlled Clocks

March 5, 2013

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is changing the way it broadcasts time signals that synchronize radio-controlled "atomic" clocks and...

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...

Calculating Quantum Vacuum Forces in Nanostructures

February 7, 2013

One of the surprising predictions of quantum mechanics is that uncharged conductors can attract each other over small distances, even in empty space. While the...

NIST Issues Call for Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grant Proposals

February 6, 2013

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a call for grant proposals for a broad range of potential research projects covering the...

DNA and Quantum Dots: All That Glitters is Not Gold

January 24, 2013

A team of researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has shown that by bringing gold nanoparticles close to the dots and using a...

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...

A Whole New Angle on Neutron Spin Analysis

January 18, 2013

For most Americans, neutron spin-polarization filter cells are a relatively rare topic of conversation. Yet these exotic devices are essential to instruments...

Solid state lighting program produces solid benefits

January 9, 2013

A recently published, descriptive case study highlights the benefits of NIST's leadership in developing standards for solid state lighting.* "NIST is making...

'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...

NIST Contributes to Top Science Stories of 2012

January 8, 2013

Two media lists of top science stories of 2012 highlight cosmology discoveries that relied on contributions from the National Institute of Standards and...

Using Calorimetry to Estimate Absorbed Dose from CT Scans

December 21, 2012

In the United States, about 80 million x-ray computed tomography (CT) scans are made every year – 7 million of them on children – according to the American...

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...

Uses and Users of NIST's Atomic Spectra Database

December 19, 2012

The online Atomic Spectra Database (ASD) provides the most authoritative information about atomic spectra available anywhere, and it is used by researchers...

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...

For Newly Discovered 'Quantum Spin Liquid', the Beauty Is in Its Simplicity

December 19, 2012

A research team including scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has confirmed long-standing suspicions among physicists that...

JILA Physicists Achieve Elusive 'Evaporative Cooling' of Molecules

December 19, 2012

Achieving a goal considered nearly impossible, JILA physicists have chilled a gas of molecules to very low temperatures by adapting the familiar process by...

Electron Spin Transport Demonstrated for First Time in an Organic Device

December 14, 2012

Researchers in the Semiconductor and Dimensional Metrology Division's Nanoelectronic Device Metrology (NEDM) Project have demonstrated the first documented case...

New Platform Developed to Measure and Exploit Optomechanical Interactions

December 12, 2012

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and Caltech have developed a new design platform for measuring and exploiting strong...

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