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Metrology

Dimensional metrology

News and Updates

artifact

Back to the Future: Gear Edition

As mechanical objects, gears have been around for so long that people may take them for granted. But gears are sophisticated parts that play a vital role in...

Blog Posts

View from the back of a darkened movie theater shows the heads of the audience and a screen reading: Measurement in the Movies.

Measurement in the Movies

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Title card reads "A Scientific Christmas Tale" with the NIST logo in a wreath and flashing holiday lights.

A Scientific Christmas Tale

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A white telescope dish is surrounded by wooded mountains in autumn colors.

In Case You Missed It From NIST: 2021 Edition

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Projects and Programs

Laser tracker calibration in Tape Tunnel Facility

Advanced Dimensional Measurement Systems

Ongoing
New dimensional measurement technologies provide significant benefits to industry such as increasing measurement throughput, enabling new manufacturing process and providing more detailed part information for manufacturing process improvement. However, before purchasing and using new measurement...
Picture of PBD set up for wavelength measurement

Diffraction Metrology and Standards

Ongoing
Diffraction techniques can provide data on a number of sample characteristics. Therefore, the method of certification and the artifact itself are chosen to address a specific measurement issue pertinent to a diffraction experiment. NIST diffraction SRMs may be divided into five groups: Line Position...
Primary M48 CMM

Dimensional Measurement Services

Ongoing
The Dimensional Measurement Services project promotes manufacturing innovation and U.S. industrial competitiveness by providing critical technology-enabling high accuracy dimensional measurements within an internationally accepted quality system. These measurements span the dimensional metrology...

Material Qualification

Ongoing
Objective To develop, utilize, and analyze methods of characterizing the precursor materials in additive manufacturing in both virgin and recycled states with the goal of advancing measurement science to benefit the AM community. The components of principal interest will include the rheological...

Publications

Digital Volume Correlation Challenge 2.0: A Comprehensive Dataset for Digital Volume Correlation Benchmarking

Author(s)
Zixiang Tong, Yujie Zhang, Edward Ando, Bin Chen, Brendan Croom, John Dabiri, Christian Franck, Matthew Fu, Helena Jin, Orion Kafka, Sriram Kunnoth, Thao Nguyen, Jacob Notbohm, Mohak Patel, Mainak Sarkar, Angkur Shaikeea, Jing Zhang, Alexander Landauer, Jin Yang
Background: Digital Volume Correlation (DVC) is a powerful experimental technique for quantifying 3D full-field volumetric displacements and strains. In light...

Report on the May 2025 NIST Measurement Week: Realization of an OSAC draft Interim Performance Assessment for Terrestrial Laser Scanners Used by Law Enforcement Agencies

Author(s)
Balasubramanian Muralikrishnan, Katharine Shilling, Mary Gregg, Vincent Lee, Jason Keller, Erin Casey, Eugene Liscio, Bryon O'Neil, Mike Russ, Toby Terpstra
This report describes a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) testing event, the NIST Measurement Week, held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology...

Tools and Instruments

Laser Doppler Vibrometer located in 218/D012 (Group 643.09)

Laser Doppler Vibrometer Microscope

Since 2006, the Nanomechanical Properties Group has pioneered the use of Laser Doppler Vibrometry (LDV) to calibrate the stiffness of AFM cantilevers using the
Examples of work in the Precision Imaging Facility.  (a) STEM image of a crack (dislocation) formed during growth of an AlGaN shell around a GaN nanowire, and (b) FIB fabrication of an AFM tip with a GaN nanowire contact point.

Precision Imaging Facility

The Precision Imaging Facility (PIF) is a cooperative research facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) dedicated to the
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