U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Taking Measure Blog Posts

Quantum information science

Put exact phrase in quotes (e.g., "artificial intelligence")

Subscribe

Get Taking Measure blogs
delivered to your inbox.

GovDelivery
Displaying 26 - 31 of 31
Scott Glancy, a sandy blonde-haired Caucasian man with blue eyes, standing in his office wearing a black T-shirt that reads "Quantum physics: The Dreams Stuff is Made of

Local Realism, Bell’s Inequality, and T-Shirts: An Entangled Tale

April 26, 2018
Scott Glancy
For this past Christmas my wife, Rebecca, gave me a T-shirt that says "Quantum mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of." This is an allusion to the book The Dreams That Stuff Is Made Of: The Most Astounding Papers of Quantum Physics— and How They Shook the Scientific World, edited by the late Stephen
kate Ross holds a long pole used to put samples in front of a beam of neutrons in the main hall at the NIST Center for Neutron Research.

The Frustrated Matter of Quantum Spin Liquids

January 9, 2018
Kate Ross
There’s a pub here in Fort Collins, Colorado, that offers 100 different beers on tap. This sounds—and actually is—great, but it has a drawback. With so many different options, especially when all those choices are equally pleasing, it’s difficult to decide which one to get. This phenomenon is called
top left: circuit board; top right: materials from HHCIII; bottom left: leaf; bottom right: 3-D atomic clock

Twelve Ways NIST Is Working for You: 2017 Edition

December 29, 2017
Ben P. Stein
As managing editor in the NIST Public Affairs Office, I learn every day how our researchers tackle important societal issues in their work. As 2017 comes to a close, I’d like to share how our news during the last year has connected to many of this year’s current events. Protecting Our First
man standing in front of a white board filled with equations. Four other men sit around a table watching.

Quantum Information: Changing the Rules of the Game

August 2, 2017
Carl Miller
I was a math researcher at the University of Michigan back in 2008 when I had the crazy—one could even say random—notion to shift from studying pure mathematics to studying quantum information science. My mentor at the time was confused by this. Why give up the field in which you have all your
Map of dark matter (in pink) in the universe

Pushing the Quantum Limit in the Search for Dark Matter

March 16, 2017
Konrad Lehnert
Here’s a surprising fact: We don’t know what makes up 80 percent of the matter in the universe. I don’t mean that the matter is made of atoms, and we just don’t know which kind of atoms. What I mean is that four-fifths of the universe appear to be made of something that isn’t atoms at all, or more
shiny metal objects

World Metrology Day: Kilogram in the Balance

May 20, 2016
Jon Pratt
It was Monday, April 25, 2016, and I was going to meet mass experts Pat Abbott and Eddie Mulhern of NIST’s Mass and Force group as part of my frantic preparations for a 5:21 p.m. flight to Paris. Pat and Eddie were the appointed custodians of the four 1 kilogram masses that I was to transport to the