Spectroscopy

News and Updates

Grid of six B&W images of asbestos fibers taken by scanning electron microscopy

NIST Researchers Identify a Cheaper, More Convenient Method to Detect Asbestos

June 25, 2024

Researchers have verified that scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a highly accurate way to test air samples for the presence of asbestos.

Micrograph shows six blue boxes with thin lines at the center, each connected to white rectangular shapes.

Spotlight: A New Wavelength of Scientific Exploration With Single-Photon Detectors

January 29, 2024

From the minuscule bindings of molecules to the far reaches of space, we’re exploring the universe around us by catching sight of the smallest particles of

A scientific device attached to a lab table has a round, porthole-like opening on one end of a cylinder wrapped in foil.

Spotlight: Near-Perfect Mirror Surfaces for Reflecting Mid-Infrared Light Better

December 6, 2023

Mirror, mirror in the chamber, how can we get light to reflect from you better?

Projects and Programs

X-ray Testbed for Breakthrough Catalyst Measurements

Ongoing

NIST’s Material Measurement Laboratory and Physical Measurement Laboratory are developing a first-of-kind X-ray testbed for operando monitoring of catalytic

Optical and Optoelectronic Materials Characterization

Ongoing

This project aims to develop rigorous measurements and methodology needed for determining optical and electrical properties of advanced materials that might be

PTIR combines the spatial resolution of AFM with the specificity of absorption spectroscopy

Nano-Chemical Imaging and -Spectroscopy (IR, nIR, VIS)

Ongoing

Conventional techniques for analyzing chemical composition, such as infrared (IR) microscopy often miss critically important nanoscale details. To overcome this

Femtosecond Nonlinear Optical Spectroscopy of Nanoscale Materials

Ongoing

Condensed matter dynamics can evolve on a subpicosecond timescale, too fast to follow using many characterization techniques. We use femtosecond optical pulses

The Research

X-ray Testbed for Breakthrough Catalyst Measurements

Ongoing

NIST’s Material Measurement Laboratory and Physical Measurement Laboratory are developing a first-of-kind X-ray testbed for operando monitoring of catalytic

Optical and Optoelectronic Materials Characterization

Ongoing

This project aims to develop rigorous measurements and methodology needed for determining optical and electrical properties of advanced materials that might be

Nano-Chemical Imaging and -Spectroscopy (IR, nIR, VIS)

Ongoing

Conventional techniques for analyzing chemical composition, such as infrared (IR) microscopy often miss critically important nanoscale details. To overcome this

Femtosecond Nonlinear Optical Spectroscopy of Nanoscale Materials

Ongoing

Condensed matter dynamics can evolve on a subpicosecond timescale, too fast to follow using many characterization techniques. We use femtosecond optical pulses

Additional Resources Links

Atomic Spectroscopy - A Compendium of Basic Ideas, Notation, Data, and Formulas

Handbook of Basic Atomic Spectroscopic Data

X-Ray Transition Energies Database

Atomic Spectroscopy Databases

Publications

Laser Offset Stabilization with Chip-Scale Atomic Diffractive Elements

June 7, 2024

Author(s)

Heleni Krelman, Ori Nefesh, Kfir Levi, Douglas Bopp, Songbai Kang, Liron Stern, John Kitching

Achieving precise and adjustable control over laser frequency is an essential requirement in numerous applications such as precision spectroscopy, quantum

Observation of a promethium complex in solution

May 22, 2024

Author(s)

Bruce D. Ravel, Darren Driscoll, Frankie White, SUBHAMAY PRAMANIK, Jeffrey Einkauf, Dmytro Bykov, Santanu Roy, Richard Mayes, Laetitia Delmau, Samantha Schrell, Thomas Dyke, April Miller, Matt Silveira, Silveira2 van Cleve, Roy Copping, Sandra Davern, Santa Jansone-Popova, Ilja Popovs, Alexander Ivanov

Lanthanide rare earth metals are ubiquitous in modern technologies, but we know little about chemistry of the 61st element, promethium (Pm), a lanthanide which

Dual-comb spectroscopy of ammonia formation in non-thermal plasmas

May 13, 2024

Author(s)

Ibrahim Sadiek, Adam Fleisher, Jacok Hayden, Andreas Hugi, Xinyi Huang, Richard Engeln, Norbert Lang, Jean-Pierre van Helden

Understanding the Origin and Implication of the Indirect-to-Direct Bandgap Transition in Multilayer InSe

May 2, 2024

Author(s)

Nicholas Pike, Ruth Pachter, Michael Altvater, Chris Stevens, Matthew Klein, Joshua Hendrickson, Huairuo Zhang, Sergiy Krylyuk, Albert Davydov, Nicholas Glavin

Indium selenide (InSe) multilayers have attracted much interest recently due to their electronic and optical properties, partially dependent on the existence of

Software

Custom Lifetime Imaging Platform (CLIP)

CLIP is an analysis program for fluorescence lifetime images. It provides the user with the ability to fit or calculate the phasor plots for lifetime decays

Tools and Instruments

Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility SURF III

The Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility SURF III is operated by the Optical Radiation Group as a stable light source for radiometry and research. SURF

Picture of PBD set up for wavelength measurement

The Parallel Beam Diffractometer (PBD) Laboratory

The Parallel Beam Diffractometer laboratory is a highly-controlled space (0.01 degree C stability) containing a set of absolutely calibrated stacked goniometer

BL-2 with the new clean room in the back.

Beamline 2: Absolute Source-Based Radiometry

Absolute source-based radiometry is founded in the traceability of a light source’s output to measurable operational parameters. The absolute irradiance at BL-2

Beamline 10: Quantitative Hyperspectral Infrared Microscopy

The new beamline 10, currently under construction, is intended for applications that make use of the super-thermal brightness from SURF in the near- to mid

Spectroscopy

News and Updates

NIST Researchers Identify a Cheaper, More Convenient Method to Detect Asbestos

Spotlight: A New Wavelength of Scientific Exploration With Single-Photon Detectors

Spotlight: Near-Perfect Mirror Surfaces for Reflecting Mid-Infrared Light Better

Projects and Programs

X-ray Testbed for Breakthrough Catalyst Measurements

Optical and Optoelectronic Materials Characterization

Nano-Chemical Imaging and -Spectroscopy (IR, nIR, VIS)

Femtosecond Nonlinear Optical Spectroscopy of Nanoscale Materials

The Research

X-ray Testbed for Breakthrough Catalyst Measurements

Optical and Optoelectronic Materials Characterization

Nano-Chemical Imaging and -Spectroscopy (IR, nIR, VIS)

Femtosecond Nonlinear Optical Spectroscopy of Nanoscale Materials

Additional Resources Links

Publications

Laser Offset Stabilization with Chip-Scale Atomic Diffractive Elements

Observation of a promethium complex in solution

Dual-comb spectroscopy of ammonia formation in non-thermal plasmas

Understanding the Origin and Implication of the Indirect-to-Direct Bandgap Transition in Multilayer InSe

Software

Custom Lifetime Imaging Platform (CLIP)

Tools and Instruments

Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility SURF III

The Parallel Beam Diffractometer (PBD) Laboratory

Beamline 2: Absolute Source-Based Radiometry

Beamline 10: Quantitative Hyperspectral Infrared Microscopy

Awards

2015 French Award

2009 APS Fellow - Yuri Ralchenko

2009 Washington Academy of Sciences Award - Dr. Joseph Reader