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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.

A woman leans over an MRI machine to reach a set of samples in a round holder, while a man sits behind her at a computer looking at MRI images.
New NIST Measurements Aim to Advance and Validate Portable MRI Technology
The artificial cranium in a liquid bath.
Lessons from an Experimental Brain Phantom

News and Updates

OWM summer interns

2023 NIST Internship Reflections

During the summer of 2023, the NIST Physical Measurement Laboratory’s ( PML ) Office of Weights and Measures ( OWM ) hosted four undergraduate students who were

Events

Awards

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Press Coverage

Patents

Photonic Bolometer And Performing Broadband High-Absorption Photonic Bolometry

NIST Inventors
Nikolai Klimov , Nathan A Tomlin and Chris Yung
A photonic bolometer includes: a photonic chip; a weak thermal link; a thermally-isolated member, and the weak thermal link thermally isolates the thermally-isolated member from the photonic chip; a photonic temperature sensor; a chip waveguide in optical communication with the photonic temperature

Photonic Bolometer and Broadband High-Absorption Photonic Bolometry

NIST Inventors
Nikolai Klimov , Nathan A Tomlin and Chris Yung
A photonic bolometer includes: a photonic chip; a weak thermal link; a thermally-isolated member, and the weak thermal link thermally isolates the thermally-isolated member from the photonic chip; a photonic temperature sensor; a chip waveguide in optical communication with the photonic temperature

Contacts

PML Director and Deputy Director

Associate Director for Measurement Services and Associate Director

Executive Secretary