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Physical Measurement Laboratory

Applied Physics Division

News and Updates

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NIST’s Superconducting Synapse May Be Missing Piece for ‘Artificial Brains’

January 26, 2018

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built a superconducting switch that “learns” like a biological system and could

Sub-microscopic LEDs Shed New Light on Advanced Materials

July 12, 2017

One of the persistent challenges in 21 st century metrology is the need to measure ever-more-detailed properties of ever-smaller things, from microchip features

No Liquid Helium, But Still Extremely Cool

May 23, 2017

NIST scientists have devised a novel hybrid system for cooling superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD) – essential tools for many kinds of

Steel-Reinforced Concrete Building with Severe Corrosion Damage

Move Over, Superman! NIST 'Spectral Fingerprinting' Sees Through Concrete to Detect Early Corrosion

April 26, 2017

When you suffer a fall, an on-the-field collision or some other traumatic blow, the first thing the doctor will do is take an X-ray, CT scan or MRI to determine

Supercomputing: Probing the Future

April 25, 2017

NIST scientists have developed a novel automated probe system for evaluating the performance of computer components designed to run 100 times faster than today

Gauging Multi-Kilowatt Laser Power with the Pressure of Light

January 24, 2017

A multi-kilowatt laser beam can cut through steel and melt bricks into glass. Many industries use high-power lasers like these to precisely cut and weld metals

NIST Physicists ‘Squeeze’ Light to Cool Microscopic Drum Below Quantum Limit

January 11, 2017

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have cooled a mechanical object to a temperature lower than previously thought possible

New Chip-Based Sensor Finds Power in Versatility

April 26, 2016

Whether you're using a landline or cell phone, there's a good chance that the signal spends at least some time traveling over fiber-optic cables. To ensure that

NIST Develops First Widely Useful Measurement Standard for Breast Cancer MRI

March 23, 2016

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed the first widely useful standard for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of

New Tool for Breast Cancer Screening

March 14, 2016

A little over three years ago, NIST scientist Katy Keenan came back from a conference with an ambitious idea: to improve the quality of magnetic resonance

Transforming Welding with Comprehensive NIST Metrology

February 2, 2016

Welding has been around, in some form, for centuries. Today it enables a large percentage of the U.S. economy,* thanks to its role in the creation of a diverse

NIST Featured in Media's Top Science Stories of 2015

January 6, 2016

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is featured in several of the news media's lists of the top science stories of 2015. NIST's change at

Colorized micrograph of a NIST single-photon detector

Less Jitter, More Bits: New Material for Detecting Photons Captures More Quantum Information

January 5, 2016

Detecting individual particles of light just got a bit more precise—by 74 picoseconds to be exact—thanks to advances in materials by National Institute of

'Squeezed' Motion in a Massive Object

December 22, 2015

Everyone expects objects at the atomic scale to follow the weird rules of quantum mechanics. But in the past few years, scientists at NIST and elsewhere have

Seeing Into Cells More Clearly

December 7, 2015

NIST scientists, with collaborators at the University of Michigan, have designed and demonstrated a new and easily tunable, high-contrast scattering agent for

How NIST Detected Spooky Actions at a Distance

November 10, 2015

This graphic describes how researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) used pairs of light particles to perform a "Bell test,"

NIST physicist Krister Shalm with the photon source used in the Bell test

NIST Team Proves 'Spooky Action at a Distance' is Really Real

November 10, 2015

BOULDER, Colo.—Einstein was wrong about at least one thing: There are, in fact, "spooky actions at a distance," as now proven by researchers at the National

GaN Nanowires: Knowing Which End Is Up

September 21, 2015

Many people who have heard of gallium nitride (GaN) know it as the semiconductor used in bright light-emitting diodes for flashlights and energy-efficient light

Vacuum Fluctuations: Measuring the Unreal

June 23, 2015

In this universe, anything that can vibrate will vibrate, and no oscillator is ever truly at rest. Even when an object such as an atom or subatomic particle is

Precocious GEM: Shape-Shifting Sensor Can Report Conditions from Deep in the Body

March 27, 2015

Scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have devised and demonstrated a new

NIST's MRI Measurement Tools to Help Diagnose Veterans' Traumatic Brain Injuries

March 17, 2015

More than 300,000 U.S. veterans have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in recent years, a legacy of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But these

NIST's Michael Boss to Receive Tech Transfer Award for MRI Calibration Standard

February 24, 2015

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physicist Michael Boss will receive the 2015 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Award for Excellence in

Hybrid Memory Device for Superconducting Computing

January 23, 2015

A team of NIST scientists has devised and demonstrated a novel nanoscale memory technology for superconducting computing that could hasten the advent of an

Uniform Nanowire Arrays for Science and Manufacturing

December 2, 2014

Defect-free nanowires with diameters in the range of 100 nanometers (nm) hold significant promise for numerous in-demand applications including printable

NIST Fires Up Extended Calibration Service for Laser Welding and More

December 2, 2014

NIST PML's Sources and Detectors Group has launched a new multikilowatt laser power measurement service capability for high-power lasers of the sort used by

Advanced communications
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Nanotechnology
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