Atomic / Molecular / Quantum

News and Updates

Table in darkened lab holds wiring and other laser electronics; a circular light source is situated above.

Major Leap for Nuclear Clock Paves Way for Ultraprecise Timekeeping

These clocks could lead to improved timekeeping and navigation, faster internet speeds, and advances in fundamental physics research.

Just for KICS!

Incoming radiation deposits energy into the TKID circuit.

NIST Study Probes the Damaging Effects of Radiation on Qubits

Illustration shows a spacecraft orbiting the Moon with the Earth visible in the background over the lunar horizon.

What Time Is It on the Moon?

Projects and Programs

Far-infrared Spectroscopy of Biomolecules (Archived)

Completed

We employ novel complimentary measurement and theoretical techniques to explore the low frequency intramolecular dynamics of model biological molecules including amino acids, short peptides with constrained structures, proteins with well-defined tertiary structures and DNAs. Our current efforts

Platform for Realizing Integrated Molecule Experiments (PRIME)

Ongoing

Blackbodies realize a clear relationship between radiated power and temperature through Planck’s law. While a reliable instrument for temperature and power calibrations, blackbodies are afflicted with a plethora of systematics (e.g., non-ideal emissivity, propagation loss, temperature gradients

State-resolved Spectroscopy of Biomolecules

Ongoing

Terahertz radiation interrogates the lowest frequency vibrational modes of a biomolecule. These modes characterize the incipient motions for large-scale conformational changes responsible for the backbone flexibility of protein, polynucleotide and polysaccharide. Thus, terahertz spectral features

Xiao Tang of NIST's Information Technology Laboratory holding up an optical fiber channel

ITL Quantum Information Program

Ongoing

The principal goals of the ITL Quantum Information Program are: To understand the potential (both opportunities and risks) for quantum information to revolutionize information science. To develop theory, methods, architectures and algorithms to enable engineering and testing of quantum computing