U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

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.

Physical Measurement Laboratory

Patents

Search Patent Title, Abstract, Body, Keyword or Inventors
Displaying 1 - 25 of 35
Slide showing text explaining the benefits of the technology described in patent 10,720,993

Metasurface Optical Pulse Shaper for Shaping an Optical Pulse in a Temporal Domain

NIST Inventors
Henri Lezec, Amit Agrawal, Wenqi Zhu, and
Patent Description Ultrafast laser pulse shaping is a well-developed field with available commercial products. Typically, the amplitude, phase or polarization of the light is controlled by placing a spatial light modulator (SLM) at the focus of the first mirror, in a technique known as Fourier
A list of radiation-induced materials modifications that are NIST traceable

Photonic Dosimeter and Process for Performing Dosimetry

NIST Inventors
Ronald Tosh, Zeeshan Ahmed, Ryan P. Fitzgerald and Nikolai Klimov
Patent Description Radiation-induced materials modification is ubiquitous. These applications rely on dosimetry to reliably deliver the desired amount of radiation to the right place. Currently the dosimetry standard is based on calorimetry of a large water phantom irradiated exclusively by Co-60

Optical Reference Cavity

NIST Inventors
Franklyn Quinlan, Scott Diddams and Andrew Ludlow
Patent Description We have demonstrated an easy-to-manufacture 25-mm-long ultra-stable optical reference cavity geared toward transportable photonic microwave generation systems and mobile optical atomic clock applications. The cavity can be rigidly held in a way that is first-order insensitive to
A timeline of long distance communication techniques

Communication Linker for Communication Linking

NIST Inventors
Sergey Polyakov and Ivan Burenkov
Patent Description The US has the leading optical communication industry and one of the largest telecommunication markets. Our invention directly improves the underlying technology of the telecommunication infrastructure. Quantum Coherent Frequency Shift Keying (CFSK) receiver is a device that

Optical Phantom for Producing a Time-Resolved Diffuse Reflectance Spectrum

NIST Inventors
Jeeseong C. Hwang
Patent Description Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and NIST jointly developed a concept for a waveform synthesizer which can generate a controlled waveform with several picosecond (ps) time resolution. In a light-diffusing material, characteristics of the time-of-flight distribution (e.g
Line drawing of the thermal impedance amplifier

Thermal Impedance Amplifier

NIST Inventors
Adam McCaughan, Varun Verma, Sonia Buckley and Sae Woo Nam
Patent Description Presently, superconducting electronics are being applied to areas such as computational backends for future quantum processors, high-performance supercomputing, and ultrafast digital signal processing. In all of these areas, data must be communicated between the superconducting

X-Ray Spectrometer

NIST Inventors
Joel Ullom, Galen O'Neil, Luis Miaja Avila, Kevin L. Silverman, Daniel Swetz, Ralph Jimenez, W.Bertrand (Randy) Doriese, Gene C. Hilton, Carl D. Reintsema, Dan Schmidt and Bradley Alpert
Patent Description Presently, there are no commercial tools for x-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy with picosecond time resolution. Additionally, there are no table-top tools for x-ray emission spectroscopy with picosecond time resolution. Previously, x-ray emission spectroscopy with this
This image of a chart titled "How does it work" that describes the optomechanical reference.

Optomechanical Reference

NIST Inventors
Gordon A. Shaw and Jacob Taylor
A mechanical sensor incorporating an optical cavity is used to provide a mass and/or force reference from a known or characterized circulating optical power in the optical cavity. The radiation pressure force in the optical cavity is used to actuate the mechanical sensor. The optical cavity in put
Step-by-step process for making a self-aligned waveguide

Process for Making a Self-Aligned Waveguide

NIST Inventors
David P. Pappas
Patent Description This invention enables practitioners to achieve very narrow gaps, down to 0.1 µm, on long coplanar waveguides using optical lithography. This process is shown below. In step 1, a mask is defined on top of the metallic material to be used as the center trace of the coplanar
Powerpoint slide, showing via map and photograhpy, the distance from NIST Boulder to Valmont Butte

Optical Time Distributor and Process for Optical Two-Way Time-Frequency Transfer

NIST Inventors
Laura Sinclair, Nathan R Newbury, William C. Swann and JD Deschenes
Patent Description The invention is a method to compare and synchronize "clocks" (i.e. local timescales) through optical links across free space, which include open air paths through the atmosphere to other terrestrial sites or to satellites, as well as satellite-to-satellite paths. The challenge is
The figure shows a microfabricated optical probe with the following components: 110 - optical loop, 111 – structured region of 110, 114 – optical waveguide, 116 – first arm of optical waveguide, 120 – substrate, 122 – optical cladding layer, 124 – first single mode optical fiber, 126 – primary light, and 128 – output light.

Microfabricated Optical Probe

NIST Inventors
Vladimir Aksyuk and Kartik Srinivasan
Patent Description Integrated photonics research and manufacturing requires a probe for in-line nondestructive optical testing of devices. Current optical probes require dedicated and large coupling areas in the photonic circuit. They cannot provide sufficient control over the degree, location and

Photonic probe for atomic force microscopy

NIST Inventors
Marcelo Davanco and Vladimir Aksyuk
Patent Description Atomic force microscopy probes with integrated photonic optomechanical cavity readout are new and provide improved sensitivity, increased measurement speed and reduced measurement noise in a variety of research and manufacturing metrology applications. While such probes have been
Diagram of cells and other components within a blood vessel

Measuring a size distribution of nucleic acid molecules in a sample

NIST Inventors
Craig Copeland and Samuel M. Stavis
Patent Description This invention is a method for measuring the size of single nucleic-acid molecules. Measuring the size of nucleic-acid molecules is important in a variety of applications ranging from criminal forensics to clinical diagnostics. The invention advances conventional methods and
A line drawing of the protector for photon detector

Protector for Photon Detector

NIST Inventors
David M. Rutter and
Patent Description Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are highly sensitive single photon counters and are used in fluorescence lifetime measurements, medical devices, safety equipment and optical communication devices among many other applications. They function by placing a high voltage across an
Exploded schematic shows line drawings of five layers inside the optofluidic flow meter.

Optofluidic Flow Meter

NIST Inventors
Zeeshan Ahmed and Gregory A Cooksey
The NIST optical flow meter uses a photonic sensor to detect pressure changes inside a microfluidic channel, which is then used to calculate volumetric flow rates. It provides on-chip assessment of flow and heat transfer resulting in improvement in fluid metrology and advances in biological sensing.
an image showing several different charts and figures that is titled "High-Resolution imaging and spectroscopy at High Pressure: A Novel Liquid Cell for the TEM"

Vacuum Compatible Fluid Sampler

NIST Inventors
Glenn Holland, Samuel M. Stavis and James Alexander Liddle
Patent Description The transmission electron microscope (TEM), with its ability to deliver atomic-scale spatial, and < 100 meV spectroscopic resolution, has enabled countless breakthroughs in materials science. From the early days of TEM development, researchers have sought to use the power of this
A disk-shaped device is smaller than the half-dollar coin underneath it.

Smart Mirror

NIST Inventors
Aly Artusio-Glimpse, John H. Lehman, Michelle Stephens, Nathan A Tomlin, Paul A. Williams and
This invention measures the power of a laser beam by detecting the displacement caused by photon pressure on a mirrored surface.
Drawings describing the technology within patent 10,639,634

Vacuum Compatible Fluid Sampler

NIST Inventors
James Alexander Liddle, Samuel M. Stavis and Glenn Holland
Patent Description This invention is a complete system comprising a novel chip and chip holder that enables routine, high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy of samples in liquids and high-pressure gases in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The system overcomes limitations in liquid-layer
Image of Resonators fabricated into a micro-electro-mechanical Systems devices as built-in motion testers

Localized gap plasmon resonator

NIST Inventors
James Alexander Liddle and Vladimir Aksyuk
Patent Description This invention is a motion sensor, and the unique fabrication process required to build the sensor, that uses the strong sensitivity of plasmonic modes to geometrical parameters (e.g. gap size). The measurement technique is experimentally validated by detecting thermal motion of a
Image of devices on a table

Optical Parametric Oscillator

NIST Inventors
John T. Woodward IV, and
Patent Description This invention is a light source that provides high-power (1W to 5W), narrow line-width (<1 nm), quasi-continuous wave (80 MHz) light that can be tuned in wavelength from 340 nm to 2300 nm. See figure below. The light source is fully automated, solid state, and fits on a