Temperature & Humidity Group

News and Updates

Four researchers pose standing in a lab, smiling and wearing safety glasses, surrouded by wires and other electronics.

NIST Demonstrates a New ‘Primary Standard’ for Measuring Ultralow Pressures

August 10, 2023

Chip manufacturing, gravitational wave detectors and quantum computers could all benefit from better ways to measure a vacuum.

The Case of the Cloudy Filters: Solving the Mystery of the Degrading Sunlight Detectors

March 25, 2021

More than 150 years ago, the Sun blasted Earth with a massive cloud of hot charged particles. This plasma blob generated a magnetic storm on Earth that caused

Thermal MagIC: New NIST Project to Build Nano-Thermometers Could Revolutionize Temperature Imaging

October 9, 2020

Cheaper refrigerators? Stronger hip implants? A better understanding of human disease? All of these could be possible and more, someday, thanks to an ambitious

It’s All About the Mix

October 24, 2017

A marriage between 3-D printer plastic and a versatile material for detecting and storing gases could lead to inexpensive sensors and fuel cell batteries alike

Projects and Programs

Acoustic Thermometry

Completed

By measuring the speed of sound in argon gas, we have determined thermodynamic temperature with unprecedented accuracy in the range 0 °C to 552 °C. Our results

Fixed Point Development : Non-Metals

Ongoing

We are developing new fixed points and new maintenance systems for use with Standard Platinum Resistance Thermometers (SPRTs) below the triple point of water

Humidity

Ongoing

The NIST Thermodynamic Metrology Group maintains and develops national standards of humidity (in the range 1 nmol/mol to 0.6 mol/mol of water concentration)

Humidity Calibration Services at NIST

Ongoing

Humidity calibrations at NIST are performed using its state-of-the art primary standard humidity generator. Calibrations are performed on instruments that

Tools and Instruments

Dynamic Humidity Measurements with the Hybrid Humidity Generator

The NIST Hybrid Humidity Generator (HHG) is NIST’s primary standard humidity generator and is used for calibration of all hygrometers sent to NIST. The HHG and

Dew-point measurements for water in compressed gases

This project has been completed. The paper reporting the results is provided here. The NIST Thermodynamic Metrology Group (TMG) used its standard gravimetric

Awards

2021 - Bronze Medal Award---Nikolai N. Klimov, Zeeshan Ahmed, Tobias Herman

For the development of the silicon nanophotonic thermometer as a robust replacement for the widely used, 150-year-old, standard resistance thermometer.

2020 - Colleagues' Choice Award---Tobias Herman

For outstanding leadership in thermometry and humidity calibration services and successful management of the photonic thermometry CRADA project.

2019 - Gold Medal Award---Nolan Brandenburg, Mark Luce, Jay Hendricks, Jacob Ricker

For exceptional and innovative encasement design, enabling preservation of multiple documents, from the US Bill of Rights to the Emancipation Proclamation.

2018 - Eugene Casson Crittenden Award---Wyatt Miller

For advancing surface-temperature metrology and its real-world applications, including a novel web-based shipment-monitoring system.

Publications

Grating magneto-optical traps with complicated level structures

October 25, 2023

Author(s)

Daniel Barker, Peter Elgee, Ananya Sitaram, Eric Norrgard, Nikolai Klimov, Gretchen K. Campbell, Stephen Eckel

We study the forces and optical pumping within grating magneto-optical traps (MOTs) operating on transitions with non-trivial level structure. In contrast to

Simulations of a frequency-chirped magneto-optical trap of MgF

September 8, 2023

Author(s)

Kayla Rodriguez, Nickolas Pilgram, Daniel Barker, Stephen Eckel, Eric Norrgard

We simulate the capture process of MgF molecules into a frequency-chirped molecular MOT. Our calculations show that by chirping the frequency, the MOT capture

Radiative Decay Rate and Branching Fractions of MgF

September 8, 2023

Author(s)

Eric Norrgard, Catherine Cooksey, Stephen Eckel, Nickolas Pilgram, Kayla Rodriguez, Howard W. Yoon, Yuly Andrea Chamorro Mena, Lukáš Pašteka, Anastasia Borschevsky

Here we report measured and calculated values of radiative decay rates and vibrational branching fractions for the A$^2\Pi$ state of MgF. The decay rate

Accurate measurement of the loss rate of cold atoms due to background gas collisions for the quantum-based cold atom vacuum standard

August 1, 2023

Author(s)

Daniel Barker, James A. Fedchak, Jacek Klos, Julia Scherschligt, Abrar Sheikh, Eite Tiesinga, Stephen Eckel

We present measurements of thermalized collisional rate coefficients for ultra-cold $^7$Li and $^87}$Rb colliding with room-temperature He, Ne, N$_2$, Ar, Kr

Temperature & Humidity Group

News and Updates

NIST Demonstrates a New ‘Primary Standard’ for Measuring Ultralow Pressures

The Case of the Cloudy Filters: Solving the Mystery of the Degrading Sunlight Detectors

Thermal MagIC: New NIST Project to Build Nano-Thermometers Could Revolutionize Temperature Imaging

It’s All About the Mix

Projects and Programs

Acoustic Thermometry

Fixed Point Development : Non-Metals

Humidity

Humidity Calibration Services at NIST

Tools and Instruments

Dynamic Humidity Measurements with the Hybrid Humidity Generator

Dew-point measurements for water in compressed gases

Awards

2021 - Bronze Medal Award---Nikolai N. Klimov, Zeeshan Ahmed, Tobias Herman

2020 - Colleagues' Choice Award---Tobias Herman

2019 - Gold Medal Award---Nolan Brandenburg, Mark Luce, Jay Hendricks, Jacob Ricker

2018 - Eugene Casson Crittenden Award---Wyatt Miller

Publications

Grating magneto-optical traps with complicated level structures

Simulations of a frequency-chirped magneto-optical trap of MgF

Radiative Decay Rate and Branching Fractions of MgF

Accurate measurement of the loss rate of cold atoms due to background gas collisions for the quantum-based cold atom vacuum standard

Contacts

Group Leader