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Physics

News and Updates

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NIST Develops Novel Ion Trap for Sensing Force and Light

June 30, 2009

Miniature devices for trapping ions (electrically charged atoms) are common components in atomic clocks and quantum computing research. Now, a novel ion trap...

The gold posts in this colorized micrograph, averaging 450 nanometers in diameter, are used to anchor individual biomolecules such as DNA for studies of their mechanical properties.

Nonstick and Laser-safe Gold Aids Laser Trapping of Biomolecules

June 16, 2009

Biophysicists long for an ideal material—something more structured and less sticky than a standard glass surface—to anchor and position individual biomolecules...

Shape Matters in the Case of Cobalt Nanoparticles

June 16, 2009

Shape is turning out to be a particularly important feature of some commercially important nanoparticles - but in subtle ways. New studies* by scientists at the...

NIST Physicists Demonstrate Quantum Entanglement in Mechanical System

June 3, 2009

BOULDER, Colo.—Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated entanglement—a phenomenon peculiar to the atomic-scale...

NIST Physicists Win European and Optics Society Awards

May 5, 2009

Jun Ye, a NIST Fellow working at JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado at Boulder, has received the 2009 European Frequency and Time...

NIST Physicist James Bergquist Elected to National Academy of Sciences

May 5, 2009

Physicist James C. Bergquist, a Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) whose research helped usher in the age of optical atomic...

Micrograph of a prototype NIST detector that will be used to seek B-mode polarization, the signature of the rapid inflation of the universe after the Big Bang.

NIST Super-Sensors to Measure 'Signature' of Inflationary Universe

May 4, 2009

BOULDER, Colo.—What happened in the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang? Super-sensitive microwave detectors, built...

trapped beryllium ions in a hexagonal single-plane crystal

NIST Develops Powerful Method of Suppressing Errors in Many Types of Quantum Computers

April 22, 2009

BOULDER, Colo.—Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a technique for efficiently suppressing errors in...

Photo of NIST physicist Jun Ye with his strontium atomic clock

JILA/NIST Scientists Get a Grip on Colliding Fermions to Enhance Atomic Clock Accuracy

April 16, 2009

BOULDER, Colo.—Physicists have measured and controlled seemingly forbidden collisions between neutral strontium atoms—a class of antisocial atoms known as...

X Marks the Spot: Ions Coldly Go Through NIST Trap Junction

April 7, 2009

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new ion trap that enables ions to go through an intersection while...

Quantum Computers Will Require Complex Software to Manage Errors

April 7, 2009

Highlighting another challenge to the development of quantum computers, theorists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown that a...

Flatland Physics Probes Mysteries of Superfluidity

March 24, 2009

If physicists lived in Flatland—the fictional two-dimensional world invented by Edwin Abbott in his 1884 novel—some of their quantum physics experiments would...

Making a Point: Picoscale Stability in a Room-Temperature AFM

March 24, 2009

Forget dancing angels, a research team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado (CU) has shown how to...

Researchers Demonstrate Novel 'Quantum Data Buffering' Scheme

February 24, 2009

In a new demonstration of physicists' growing ability to control the "spooky" quantum dynamics phenomenon called entanglement, researchers from the National...

Colorado Governor Ritter Honors NIST Internet Time Service

February 24, 2009

On Feb. 17, Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado presented the 2009 CO-LABS Governor's Awards for Research Impact to scientists from five federal research...

"Dressed" Rubidium Atoms May Reveal Clues for Exotic Computing

February 24, 2009

Neutral atoms—having no net electric charge—usually don't act very dramatically around a magnetic field. But by "dressing them up" with light, researchers at...

NIST/Maryland Researchers Demonstrate 'Quantum Data Buffering' Scheme

February 12, 2009

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—Pushing the envelope of Albert Einstein's "spooky action at a distance," known as entanglement, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute...

NIST Physicist Deborah Jin to Receive Sigma Xi's Top Honor

January 27, 2009

Physicist Deborah S. Jin, a Fellow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of...

Simply Weird Stuff: Making Supersolids with Ultracold Gas Atoms

January 13, 2009

Physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland have proposed a...

JILA Story Makes Physics 'Top Ten' List

December 23, 2008

The creation of the first high-density gas of ultracold molecules by scientists at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology...

Two NIST Physicists Win 2007 PECASE Honors

December 23, 2008

Two physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have won Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the...

Wherefore a Leap Second?

December 23, 2008

The spin of the Earth is slowing down. Not by much; only about 0.002 seconds a day (it varies), relative to our modern definition of the second. The varying...

Nine NIST Staff Become New APS Fellows

December 9, 2008

Nine staff members of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have been elected new fellows of the American Physical Society, the largest...

NIST Physicist Wins OSA's First Walther Award

November 25, 2008

NIST physicist David Wineland will receive the inaugural Herbert Walther Award in recognition of his "seminal contributions to quantum information physics and...

'Femtomolar Optical Tweezers' May Enable Sensitive Blood Tests

November 12, 2008

Cutting-edge "tweezers" are so sensitive that they can feel the tell-tale tug of tiny concentrations of pathogens in blood samples, yet don't ever need to be...

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