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Daniel Swetz (Fed)
Group Leader
Dr. Daniel Swetz has spent over two decades developing SI-traceable, superconducting quantum sensing technology, advancing transition-edge sensor (TES) devices from a laboratory demonstration into a mature, deployable instrument for measuring the energy of individual photons and particle decays in ways conventional detectors cannot. As Group Leader of NIST's Quantum Calorimeters Group, he leads the design, construction, and deployment of superconducting x-ray and gamma-ray spectrometers now in service at national laboratories and international facilities worldwide, supporting nuclear materials accountancy, forensics, and treaty verification at Los Alamos, Idaho, Oak Ridge, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, and resolving the x-ray signatures of exotic atoms to test quantum electrodynamics (QED) at J-PARC in Japan and CERN. His spectrometers also enable materials science at synchrotron beamlines at SLAC, Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and BESSY II in Berlin, and detect hardware tampering and counterfeit components in integrated circuits through nanoscale x-ray imaging developed for U.S. supply chain security.
Disseminating this technology to the scientists and agencies who need it has been a deliberate goal of his research program, not a byproduct of it — the same motivation behind the visiting scholar and professor appointments he has held at Stanford University, Argonne National Laboratory, and, most recently, the Laboratoire Kastler Brossel at Sorbonne Université. His work has been recognized with two R&D 100 Awards, the Department of Commerce's Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals, and an international award from Japan's RIKEN Nishina Center. He holds one U.S. patent and has an extensive publication record spanning superconducting sensor physics and x-ray spectroscopy (see his Google Scholar profile for a full list). He has mentored over a dozen postdoctoral researchers and graduate students and continues to make mentorship a priority.
Areas of Expertise
Superconducting and kinetic-inductance sensor technology; SI-traceable cryogenic energy detection; high-resolution x-ray and gamma-ray spectrometry; nuclear materials science, forensics, and treaty verification; synchrotron- and accelerator-based x-ray science; nanoscale x-ray imaging and microelectronics metrology; spectroscopy of exotic atoms and highly charged ions.
Related Projects/Programs
- Quantum Calorimeters Group
- Microcalorimeter Spectrometers for X-ray and Gamma-ray Spectroscopy
- Kinetic Inductance Spectrophotometry
- Nanoscale, Element-Specific X-ray Imaging for Integrated Circuit Metrology
- True Becquerel - A New Paradigm for 21st Century Radioactivity Measurements
- X-ray Testbed for Breakthrough Catalyst Measurements
Related News
- NIST Scientists Develop Novel CT Scan Device for Integrated Circuits, 2023
- Spotlight: Looking Beyond the Standard Model to Explore Neutron Decay, 2022
- Spotlight: A Literal Blast From the Past With NIST Quantum Sensors, 2022
- EBIT’s Improved X-ray Vision Promises Astronomical Insights, 2019
- Getting a Critical Edge on Plutonium Identification, 2015
NRC Fellowship Opportunities
Awards
- R&D 100 Award — HXI: Hyperspectral X-ray Imaging Detector, 2023
- NIST Physical Measurement Laboratory Award for Excellence in Cooperation, Collaboration, and Teamwork, 2022
- R&D 100 Award — SOFIA: Spectrometer Optimized for Facility Integrated Applications, 2022
- Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Exceptional Performance, 2020
- Stjepan Marcelja Visiting Fellowship, Australian National University (accepted but unfulfilled), 2019
- Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Distinguished Performance, 2017
- 7th Technology Incentive Award, RIKEN Nishina Center, Japan, 2016
- Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for Superior Federal Service, 2015
- National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship, NIST, 2010–2012
- Zaccheus Daniel Foundation for Astronomical Sciences Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, 2005–2006
- Radtke Award for Distinguished Achievement in Undergraduate Physics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2002
- Engineering Mechanics Academic Achievment Scholarship, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1999-2000
VISITING APPOINTMENTS
- Professeur Invité (Visiting Professor), Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Sorbonne Université, 2025–2026
- Visiting Scholar, Department of Physics, Stanford University, 2016–2017
- Visiting Scholar, X-ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 2015–2016
VIDEO
- Watch: "The Modern Microcalorimeter: A Broadband, High Resolution, High Throughput Detector for the X-ray Sciences"
Recorded from an invited plenary talk at the 2020 Denver X-ray Conference.
