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Physics

Atomic / Molecular / Quantum

News and Updates

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NIST Creates Fundamentally Accurate Quantum Thermometer

March 15, 2016

Better thermometers might be possible as a result of a discovery at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where physicists have found a way...

Quantum Spin Squeezing Gets Real

February 26, 2016

Today's atomic clocks are ridiculously accurate. The best of them tell time so well that if they had been running since the Big Bang, by now they would not have...

Shedding Light on Dark Matter with SQUIDs

February 16, 2016

Perhaps fortunately, most folks haven't noticed that 85% of the Milky Way is missing: The kind of familiar, ordinary matter we know – made up of protons...

NIST Adds to Quantum Computing Toolkit with Mixed-Atom Logic Operations

December 16, 2015

BOULDER, Colo.–Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have added to their collection of ingredients for future quantum...

How NIST Detected Spooky Actions at a Distance

November 10, 2015

This graphic describes how researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) used pairs of light particles to perform a "Bell test,"...

It's a Beauty: JILA's Quantum Crystal is Now More Valuable

November 5, 2015

Physicists at JILA have made their "quantum crystal" of ultracold molecules more valuable than ever by packing about five times more molecules into it. The...

Quantum Simulation: Physics at the Edge

September 25, 2015

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have achieved a major milestone in simulating the dynamics of condensed-matter systems –...

NIST Team Breaks Distance Record for Quantum Teleportation

September 22, 2015

BOULDER, Colo.—Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have "teleported" or transferred quantum information carried in light...

Gaily Tread the [Quantum] Measure

July 28, 2015

Since quantum theory has been known to borrow from the arts—Murray Gell-Mann famously named "quarks" after a line from James Joyce—it's only fitting that...

International Symposium on Forensic Science Error Management Announces Brandon Mayfield and Steven Wax as Keynote Speakers

June 9, 2015

#NISTForensics We are pleased to introduce our two keynote speakers for the first-ever International Symposium on Forensic Science Error Management, an event...

What is Quantum Physics? Dancers Explain

May 15, 2015

Quantum physics drives much of the research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Explaining this research is a challenge, because...

Getting Better All the Time: JILA Strontium Atomic Clock Sets New Records

April 21, 2015

In another advance at the far frontiers of timekeeping by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers, the latest modification of a record...

Getting a Critical Edge on Plutonium Identification

March 23, 2015

A collaboration between NIST scientists and colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has resulted in a new kind of sensor that can be used to...

Novel Neutron Detector Makes Scintillating Debut

March 9, 2015

A team of researchers has successfully demonstrated a new design concept for a neutron detector that does not rely – as nearly all current models do – on a...

Open-Source Software for Quantum Information

January 23, 2015

NIST has partnered with the private sector to develop the next-generation open-source control software for quantum information systems. NIST is a world leader...

Computing with Single Atoms

November 26, 2014

As features on silicon microchips continue to shrink, the final frontier of miniaturization is a transistor on the scale of a single atom – a technology that...

Tiny Magnetic Sensor Deemed Attractive

November 24, 2014

Ultra-sensitive magnetic sensor technology pioneered at PML may soon be commercialized for a host of applications from detection of unexploded bombs and...

NIST Quantum Probe Enhances Electric Field Measurements

October 7, 2014

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Michigan have demonstrated a technique based on the quantum...

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...

JILA Team Finds First Direct Evidence of 'Spin Symmetry' In Atoms

August 21, 2014

Just as diamonds with perfect symmetry may be unusually brilliant jewels, the quantum world has a symmetrical splendor of high scientific value. Confirming this...

NIST Technique Could Make Sub-wavelength Images at Radio Frequencies

June 17, 2014

Imaging and mapping of electric fields at radio frequencies (RF)* currently requires the use of metallic structures such as dipoles, probes and reference...

NIST Chip Produces and Detects Specialized Gas for Biomedical Analysis

May 20, 2014

A chip-scale device that both produces and detects a specialized gas used in biomedical analysis and medical imaging has been built and demonstrated at the...

New SPAD Control System: High Efficiency, Low Noise

May 16, 2014

By employing a technique analogous to the operation of noise-canceling headphones, PML researchers have created an exquisitely sensitive, semiconductor-based...

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...

JILA Physicists Discover 'Quantum Droplet' in Semiconductor

February 26, 2014

JILA physicists used an ultrafast laser and help from German theorists to discover a new semiconductor quasiparticle—a handful of smaller particles that briefly...

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