News and Updates

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Spotlight: Building the Next Generation of Quantum Computers and Networks With Tasshi Dennis

April 15, 2024

When NIST scientist Tasshi Dennis first encountered quantum physics as a student, he was skeptical it would ever amount to any practical applications. Little

Researchers develop a new type of frequency comb that promises to further boost the accuracy of time keeping

March 14, 2024

Chip-based devices known as frequency combs, which measure the frequency of light waves with unparalleled precision, have revolutionized time keeping, the

Shrinking Technology, Expanding Horizons: Compact Chips Advance Precision Timing for Communications, Navigation and Other Applications

March 6, 2024

This technology shrinks a tabletop system into a chip-sized format, reducing power usage and making it more applicable for use in everyday devices.

Micrograph shows six blue boxes with thin lines at the center, each connected to white rectangular shapes.

Spotlight: A New Wavelength of Scientific Exploration With Single-Photon Detectors

January 29, 2024

From the minuscule bindings of molecules to the far reaches of space, we’re exploring the universe around us by catching sight of the smallest particles of

A scientific device attached to a lab table has a round, porthole-like opening on one end of a cylinder wrapped in foil.

Spotlight: Near-Perfect Mirror Surfaces for Reflecting Mid-Infrared Light Better

December 6, 2023

Mirror, mirror in the chamber, how can we get light to reflect from you better?

NIST Researchers Develop a Breakthrough COVID-19 Detection Technology

October 2, 2023

“Only connect” is the most famous line in the British novelist E. M. Forster’s writings. Forster was urging the readers of his book Howard’s End to make

NIST chip containing a single-photon detector made of superconducting nanowires. Four chips like this were used in the experiment that entangled three photons.

Unity in the Photon Community

September 12, 2023

The creation and detection of single photons (the smallest units of light) has grown in a few decades from an experimental laboratory pursuit to an important

New NIST Licensing Opportunity Teems with Potential Applications

July 5, 2023

Max Planck, one of the Twentieth Century’s most eminent physicists, observed, "An experiment is a question that science poses to Nature, and a measurement is

A satellite connects two locations on the earth’s surface by means of signals that use the same technology as an experiment that beamed laser light between two mountaintops in Hawaii'.

NIST Lays Groundwork for Future Ultra-Precise Timing Links to Geosynchronous Satellites

June 21, 2023

Between mountains in Hawai‘i, innovative scientists show precision timing at the quantum limit.

Three new NIST X-ray technology patents are prime licensing opportunities

June 7, 2023

David Gerrold, a prolific American author, and screenwriter, summarizes the progress of the last 120 years when he observes, “In the 20th century, we had a

Manipulating Multiple Lasers on a Single Chip: Paving the Way for a New Generation of Quantum Devices

April 10, 2023

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed chip-scale devices for simultaneously manipulating the color, focus

JILA’s Frequency Comb Breathalyzer Detects COVID-19 With Excellent Accuracy

April 6, 2023

JILA researchers have upgraded a breathalyzer based on Nobel Prize-winning frequency-comb technology and combined it with machine learning to detect SARS-CoV-2

Improved Chip-Scale Color Conversion Lasers Could Enable Many Next-generation Quantum Devices

March 28, 2023

In two new studies, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have greatly improved the efficiency and power output of a series

Liam Connolly sits next to a computer monitor and smiles for a photograph.

Spotlight: Quantum Connections for Recent Postdoctoral Researcher Liam G. Connolly

February 10, 2023

The NRC Research Associateship Programs at NIST gave him an opportunity to try something new.

Chip Circuit for Light Could Be Applied to Quantum Computations

January 3, 2023

The ability to transmit and manipulate the smallest unit of light, the photon, with minimal loss, plays a pivotal role in optical communications as well as

A yellow buoy with a red base floats in the sea under a blue sky.

Ocean Color System Gets a ‘Refresh,’ Allowing for More Precise and Accurate Measurements

January 3, 2023

NIST, NOAA and other partners have collaborated on an upgrade to an ocean-color sensor called the Marine Optical Buoy, or MOBY.

Adam Kaufman poses for a head shot with a shelf of library books in the background.

NIST Physicist Adam Kaufman Wins Breakthrough New Horizons in Physics Prize

September 22, 2022

Kaufman won for his work in advancing the control of atoms and molecules to improve atomic clocks and quantum information processing.

Calibrating the Universe: Behind the Scenes, NIST Scientists Play a Critical Role in Improving Gravitational Wave Measurements

August 2, 2022

Space-time ripples, exploding stars, colliding black holes …. and the National Institute of Standards and Technology? NIST doesn’t exactly come to mind when

Out of the Shadows: New Imaging Method Reveals Concealed Objects

July 19, 2022

A new way of imaging concealed objects, devised by a researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and his colleagues, might take all

Now Hear This!

June 30, 2022

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have designed and built an optical device that could set a new standard for measuring

$diffraction grating$

Optical physics and communications