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Neutrons
Science

New way to use neutrons to detect electric fields in spaces

Amit Malewar

Technique could permit detection of electric fields in hard-to-reach places, with potential security value.

Image of a novel system of coupled quantum dots taken with a scanning tunneling microscope shows electrons orbiting within two concentric sets of closely spaced rings, separated by a gap. The inner set of rings represents one quantum dot; the outer, brighter set represents a larger, outer quantum dot. Credit: NIST
Quantum Computing

A new type of coupled Quantum dots system in graphene

Amit Malewar

For the first time, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created and imaged a new pair of quantum dots...

Micrograph of NIST’s high-resolution camera made of 1,024 sensors that count single photons, or particles of light. The camera was designed for future space-based telescopes searching for chemical signs of life on other planets. The 32-by-32 sensor array is surrounded by pink and gold wires connecting to electronics that compile the data. Credit: V. Verma/NIST
Technology

This new camera may potentially detect extraterrestrial life, dark matter

Amit Malewar

High-resolution camera made of 1,024 sensors that count single photons, or particles of light.

Operation of the NIST Ambient Radiation Thermometer, which is approximately 60 cm (24 in. long (1) Infrared (IR) light from a fixed-temperature calibrated source (at right, not shown) enters the thermometer enclosure through this lens, which focuses the radiation onto a “field stop,” analogous to the f-stop aperture in photography. (2) A circular metal chopper slices the IR beam into a sequence of pulses. (3) The first lens inside the central cylinder converts the light from the field stop to a parallel beam. (4) The light passes through this insulated cylinder about 30 cm (12 in.) long which is temperature-controlled by a feedback system. Stray radiation is blocked by another stop. (5) A second lens focuses the light onto a pyroelectric detector. (6) The detector output is routed to an amplifier that boosts the signal to readily readable levels. Credit: NIST
Invention

Measuring temperature with invisible light

Amit Malewar

The most common way to check if someone has a fever without a thermometer is to feel the forehead or neck with the back...

Model of nanowire-based light-emitting diode showing that adding a bit of aluminum to the shell layer (black) directs all recombination of electrons and holes (spaces for electrons) into the nanowire core (multicolored region), producing intense light. Credit: NIST
Nanotechnology

Researchers Boost Intensity of Nanowire LEDs

Editorial Team

Nanowire gurus at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that, thanks to a special type of...

Image showing 5g network
Technology

New antenna evaluation method could help boost 5G network capacity

Amit Malewar

Selecting optimal antenna designs for future fifth-generation (5G) devices.

Simplified experimental scheme.
Science

NIST atomic clocks now keep time well enough to improve models of Earth

Amit Malewar

A newly developed experimental atomic clock can precisely tick to improve timekeeping and navigation. It additionally can detect signals from gravity, the early universe and...

a microscopic gear and actuator in a MEMS (microelectromechanical system) device. A tiny actuator moves back and forth in a ratcheting motion that drives the rotation of a microscopic ring gear. To track the actuator's motion, researchers attached fluorescent particles to the actuator. Using the light-emitting particles, researchers were able to track displacements as small as billionths of a meter, and rotations as tiny as several millionths of a radian at a rate of 1000 times per second. Credit: Jennifer Lauren Lee/NIST
Technology

How microscopic machines can fail within seconds?

Amit Malewar

To what extent can tiny gears and other microscopic moving parts last before they destroy? What are the warning signs that these segments are...

New device widens light beams by 400 times
Technology

New device widens light beams by 400 times

Pranjal Malewar

Scientists at the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) have developed an efficient converter that enlarges the diameter of a light beam by...

A scanning electron micrograph showing a cluster of silver nanoparticles released by scratching a nanosilver-infused cutting board. The cluster is approximately 900 nanometers across, or about the size of a typical bacterium. Credit: NIST
Science

Do kitchen items shed antimicrobial nanoparticles after use?

Pranjal Malewar

Silver nanoparticles measuring between one and 100 nanometers (billionth of a meter) in size are being incorporated outside the United States into a variety...

Kilogram No. 20, in the U.S., is one of several “working standards.” Credit: Science Source
Science

Redefining the kilogram: A turning point for humanity

Amit Malewar

The kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), and is defined as being equal to the mass...

False-color images showing variations in atom numbers (1 to 5 atoms, left to right) and density in different lattice cells of JILA’s strontium lattice atomic clock. JILA researchers observed shifts in the clock’s frequency that arise from the emergence of multi-particle interactions when three or more atoms occupy a single cell. Credit: Aki Goban, Ye group/JILA
Science

Signs of interactive form of quantum matter

Amit Malewar

For the first ever time, JILA scientists have confined groups of a couple of atoms and precisely estimated their multi-particle cooperations inside an atomic clock....

A 3D topographic image of a single voxel of polymerized resin, surrounded by liquid resin. NIST researchers used their sample-coupled-resonance photo-rheology (SCRPR) technique to measure how and where there material’s properties changed in real time at the smallest scales during the 3D printing and curing process. Credit: NIST
Technology

New method to measure 3D polymer processing precisely

Amit Malewar

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a novel method based on light-based atomic force microscopy (AFM), named sample-coupled-resonance photorheology...

Illustration depicting how specific frequencies, or colors, of light (sharp peaks) emerge from the electronic background noise (blue) in NIST’s ultrafast electro-optic laser. The vertical backdrop shows how these colors combine to create an optical frequency comb, or “ruler” for light. Credit: D. Carlson/NIST
Science

New electro-optic laser pulses 100 times faster than usual ultrafast light

Pranjal Malewar

Using common electronics, NIST scientists have developed a laser that pulses 100 times more often than conventional ultrafast lasers. This newly developed laser is expected...

(a) Experimental ranging setup. A target obstructed by flames (depicted is an acetylene flame) is scanned with a FMCW LADAR. The target is placed ∼0.5  m behind this wall of flames. The total stand-off is 2 m. Range measurements are taken continuously at a 1-kHz update rate. A fast-steering mirror (FSM) sweeps the beam across the target, and the resulting 3D point cloud is then transformed to obtain Cartesian ??? points. (b) ??? 3D point clouds. Left panel, machined aluminum step-block. Right panel, video (see Visualization 1) of a piece of chocolate, showing the deformation due to the flame heat (the frame rate is accelerated 60× to 1 Hz).
Science

Laser ranging can see 3D objects melting in fires

Pranjal Malewar

Using Laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system, scientists at the NIST have imaged three-dimensional (3D) objects melting in flames. Doing this, they got a precise, safe and...

New instrument helps scientists see what they couldn't see before
Technology

New instrument helps scientists see what they couldn’t see before

Amit Malewar

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have to build a new custom-instrument that enables scientists to glimpse moment-by-moment changes in materials on...

Environment

How reliable are turtles for measuring ocean trash and marine health?

Pranjal Malewar

Marine debris, including plastics, paper, wood, metal, and other manufactured materials are found on beaches worldwide and at all depths of the ocean. About...

Schematic of the coating layers in a typical automobile composite body. Mar and scratch damages from a variety of object impacts are shown. Credit: Eastman Chemical Co./ K. Irvine, NIST
Technology

To improve auto coatings, new tests do more than scratch the surface

Amit Malewar

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new suite of tests for simulating scratching processes on automobile clearcoats. Data from...

A prototype of the smart mirror. Laser light bounces off the highly reflective surface of a silicon plate, visible in the middle of a thick black ring of plastic. Credit: Jennifer Lauren Lee/NIST
Technology

Introducing the Smart Mirror

Amit Malewar

Lasers assume jobs in many assembling forms, from welding auto parts to making engine segments with 3D printers. To control these tasks, makers must...

(a) Video of methane flame and picture of a plastic skeleton, Visualization 2. (b) False-colored rendered 3D 1-million-point cloud of the plastic skeleton as mapped in 3D through the flame.
Technology

NIST shows laser ranging can see 3D objects melting in fires

Pranjal Malewar

Using laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system melting 3D objects, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have set an example of a precise,...

Schematic of the setup for photo-thermal induced resonance (PTIR), which includes an infrared laser source and atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever with a sharp tip that touches the sample and vibrates in response to the sample’s light-induced expansion. PTIR can determine the folding pattern (called for example α-helix, β-sheet) of peptides (amino acid chains) in water with nanometer-scale resolution. Credit: NIST
Technology

First nanometer-scale measurements of the folded structure of biomolecules in liquids

Amit Malewar

Scientists have previously developed a spectroscopy technique to measure a material's topography and chemical composition with nanometer-scale. Now NIST scientists came up with little improvement...

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