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Physical Measurement Laboratory

Quantum Measurement Division

News and Updates

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Single Photon from a Quantum Emitter? It's a Matter of Timing...

April 3, 2013

Many systems envisioned for practical quantum information processing require the use of single, indistinguishable photons as carriers of information and logic

Large Mass Calibration -- A Matter of Scale

March 5, 2013

Few substances are tracked more closely and stored more carefully than the nuclear waste produced at power plants and elsewhere. So the properties of the large

Marlin Kraft adjusts a current shunt connection.

Minimizing Uncertainty in Current Events

January 28, 2013

The electrical power industry – and the equipment makers and calibration laboratories that serve it – need to be able to quantify DC currents of hundreds or

NIST Accepting Proposals for Fundamental Measurement Grants

January 24, 2013

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is soliciting proposals to support significant research in the field of fundamental measurement or the

'Standard Quantum Limit' Smashed, Could Mean Better Fiber-Optic Comms

January 8, 2013

Communicating with light may soon get a lot easier, hints recent research* from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of

Uses and Users of NIST's Atomic Spectra Database

December 19, 2012

The online Atomic Spectra Database (ASD) provides the most authoritative information about atomic spectra available anywhere, and it is used by researchers

Martzloff Cited for Lifetime Achievement by IEEE Standards Association

December 12, 2012

If you've ever had your house lights flicker alarmingly during a bad electrical storm but found that your prized home computing network survived just fine, you

'Magic Zero' Technique Reduces Atomic Clock Uncertainty

December 5, 2012

Scientists from a PML- Joint Quantum Institute (JQI)* group have devised and demonstrated a novel method** for making the most precise measurements to date of

NIST – VA Agreement Leads to New Research on Hearing Aids

November 30, 2012

Randy Wagner and the rest of the Acoustics Team in PML's Semiconductor and Dimensional Metrology Division are planning new research directions as they celebrate

NIST Experiments Challenge Fundamental Understanding of Electromagnetism

November 27, 2012

A cornerstone of physics may require a rethink if findings at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are confirmed. Recent experiments

Enriched Silicon: Going for Four Nines

November 20, 2012

Any eventual quantum computer, no matter how it may be configured, will need a way to store and manipulate information in qubits – the quantum counterpart of a

A green laser beam rotates around the toroidal BEC, acting as a sort of "optical paddle."

The First Controllable Atom SQUID

November 2, 2012

Scientists have created the first controllable atomic circuit that functions analogously to a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and allows

Princeton/NIST Collaboration Puts Wheels on the Quantum Bus

October 19, 2012

In yet another step toward the realization of a practical quantum computer, scientists working at Princeton and the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) have shown how

Schematic diagram of loophole-free Bell test

Truly Random Numbers — But Not by Chance

October 1, 2012

Life can seem haphazard and chaotic, but true randomness is fundamentally mysterious, elusive, and remarkably difficult to observe. If it can be realized and

Jacob Taylor, NIST Physicist, Receives Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal for Public Service

September 14, 2012

On September 13, 2012, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physicist Jacob Taylor received a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal

Disseminating the Kilogram, No Strings Attached

August 24, 2012

The impending redefinition of the kilogram presents a weighty dilemma. Methods to be used to realize the redefined kilogram are based on the Planck constant and

This short movie shows the image of the 'N' in NIST being randomly amplified and de-amplified by the four-wave mixing technique.

Seeing the Light with NIST's New Noiseless Optical Amplifier

August 8, 2012

Most devices that amplify light suffer from the same problem: making the image brighter also adds muddying distortion. Scientists working at the National

A close-up photo of the center of the experimental set-up. The small transparent chamber that holds the ultracold rubidium atoms is surrounded by a dotted line.

Simulating Superconductors with a Touch of Disorder

July 26, 2012

Since their discovery in 1986, high-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors have been the subject of intense interest to researchers. But the mechanism behind the

illustration of pseudomagnetic fields that confine grahene's electrons and create quntized quantum dot-like energy levels

'Tuning' Graphene Drums Might Turn Conductors to Semiconductors

June 27, 2012

Tightening or relaxing the tension on a drumhead will change the way the drum sounds. The same goes for drumheads made from graphene, only instead of changing

Graphene Drumheads Tuned to Make Quantum Dots

June 21, 2012

Tightening or relaxing the tension on a drumhead will change the way the drum sounds. The same goes for drumheads made from graphene, only instead of changing

First Observation of the Hall Effect in a Bose-Einstein Condensate

June 19, 2012

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have observed for the first time the Hall effect in a gas of ultracold atoms. The Hall effect

First Light: NIST Researchers Develop New Way to Generate Superluminal Pulses

May 2, 2012

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a novel way of producing light pulses that are "superluminal"—in some

Schematic diagram of the fast light experiment.

First, Fast, and Faster

April 6, 2012

Scientists in PML's Quantum Measurement Division have produced the first superluminal light pulses made by using a technique called four-wave mixing, creating

The 2012 participants, from left: David Newell of PML, Jacques Liard of NRCan, Dave Inglis of NRS, Jason Silliker of NRCan, and Mark Eckl of NOAA.

The Great Gravity Showdown

February 27, 2012

During the week of February 6-10, 2012, some extremely weighty matters were in progress at NIST's non-magnetic facility, where PML researchers hosted an

Cool Nano Loudspeakers Could Make for Better MRIs, Quantum Computers

January 24, 2012

A team of physicists from the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), the Neils Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Harvard University has developed a theory

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