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Physical Measurement Laboratory

PML is a world leader in the science of measurement. We determine the definitive methods for nearly every kind of measurement employed in commerce and research, provide NIST-traceable calibrations, and disseminate standards and best practices throughout the nation. At the same time, PML works continuously at the outermost frontiers of metrology, devising tools and techniques to meet the ever-changing demands of American industry and science.

CTIM
Measuring Sunlight from Space, on a Chip
meteorite
Research on the Rocks: Combining Neutrons and X-Ray Imaging

News and Updates

CTIM

Measuring Sunlight from Space, on a Chip

For 40 years, people have used space-based sensors to measure the amount of light coming from the Sun, which gives scientists insight into climate change on

Events

Industry Impacts

A streaked image of a taxi and a dark car driving in Times Square, New York City street at night.

Fare Standards for Rideshare Services

To calculate fares, app-based ride services such as Lyft and Uber don’t use traditional taxi meters, but instead combine data from GPS and cellular networks to
Illustrative subset of parameterized shapes available for nanoscale photonic, electronic, mechanic, fluidic, and other applications.

Nanolithography Design Tools

Accurate production of nanoscale features on semiconductor chips is essential to their performance, but typical design tools cater to the dominance of straight
Image of a radiation pressure power meter

High-Power Lasers for Manufacturing 

Measuring the intensity of high-power lasers used by manufacturers for precision cutting and welding can be difficult due to large instrumentation challenges
atom-based magnetic sensor

Brain Mapping Technologies

Magnetic signals produced by electrical currents in the brain can be used to map brain processes and help in the diagnosis and treatment of disease

Awards

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Press Coverage

A grayscale scanning electron microscope image of a human hair with the letters N-I-S-T across it.

A sweet new microprinting technique

Bits and Chips
A new technique leverages the properties of common table sugar to transfer lithographic patterns onto the most complex of surfaces.

Patents

QUANTUM-ENABLED FLOW CYTOMETER

NIST Inventors
Sergey Polyakov and Ivan Burenkov
patent description We invented a flow cytometer that can self-calibrate in an absolute way that can reach the sensitivity for quantification and enumeration of a single and small number of biological markers per a biological entity. The cytometer uses a photon-number resolving detector (or a

Contacts

PML Director and Deputy Director

Associate Director for Measurement Services and Associate Director

Executive Secretaries