An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
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.
Sensors capable of detecting individual photons of visible light have become essential for applications ranging from imaging faint galaxies to quantum computing
Qubits, the fundamental unit of quantum information, form the building blocks of quantum computers. Because qubits are not limited to the two states, “0” and “1
Perched atop a high plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert, a long-awaited observatory is beginning to take shape: the largest suite of ground-based telescopes
NIST researcher Tammy Lucas is building tools to help astronomers and cosmologists look back in time to the earliest moments of our universe — and see what we
A groundbreaking new image taken by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in Chile reveals the most detailed map ever taken of the distribution of dark matter
NIST researcher Samantha Walker builds time machines. Not like in the movies, but her technology can help astronomers see the earliest light in our universe.
Before we can send bits of information through networks of quantum computers at different locations, we need to resolve an issue with our building blocks for
This prototype NIST sensor may help solve some mysteries of the universe by looking beyond the Standard Model. The Standard Model is a long-standing theory that
Frances Lloyd was rejoining the workforce in 1977 after taking time off to raise her child. She had an impressive background. Frances worked on aircraft
This mite of a sensor just showed its forensic might. Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory used the NIST sensors shown here to demonstrate a highly
The 19th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD19) was an opportunity for researchers from around the world to exchange information about the
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have invented a miniature thermometer with big potential applications, such as
Look at an astronomical marvel like the Cat’s Eye Nebula at right, with an average gas temperature about twice as hot as the surface of the Sun. It seems
The world-class clean room in the NIST Boulder Microfabrication Facility (BMF) has just gotten a bit more crowded – in a good way. Staff members have recently
For the first time in a laboratory setting, NIST scientists have made stop-action x-ray measurements of the way visible light interacts with atoms and molecules
Perhaps fortunately, most folks haven't noticed that 85% of the Milky Way is missing: The kind of familiar, ordinary matter we know – made up of protons
Much of what we know about the origin and early history of the universe comes from a phenomenon discovered by accident 50 years ago: The cosmic microwave
A collaboration between NIST scientists and colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has resulted in a new kind of sensor that can be used to
NIST scientists have pioneered a technology that may speed the arrival of long-awaited materials and devices including advanced high-temperature superconductors
There are many unknowns in the future of computing. But one thing is certain: Devices will be reading and writing information faster, and storing it at ever
If spintronics is to become the Next Big Thing, it will be because researchers have learned how to control many extremely small, but hugely significant, things
PML researchers are on the verge of reaching a long-sought major goal: Providing the world with a programmable quantum voltage standard that has an uncertainty
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new microscope able to view and measure an important but elusive