The hunt for Earth-like planets, and perhaps extraterrestrial life, just got more precise, thanks to record-setting starlight measurements made possible by a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) “astrocomb.” NIST’s custom-made frequency comb—which precisely measures frequencies, or colors, of light—ensures the precision of starlight analysis by an instrument called a spectrograph at the Hobby-Eberly…

Experimental atomic clocks at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have achieved three new performance records, now ticking precisely enough to not only improve timekeeping and navigation, but also detect faint signals from gravity, the early universe and perhaps even dark matter. The clocks each trap a thousand ytterbium atoms in optical lattices,…

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have published landmark test results that suggest a promising class of sensors can be used in high-radiation environments and to advance important medical, industrial and research applications. Photonic sensors convey information with light instead of electric currents in wires. They can measure, transmit and manipulate…

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have conducted simulations suggesting that graphene, in addition to its many other useful features, can be modified with special pores to act as a tunable filter or strainer for ions (charged atoms) in a liquid. The concept, which may also work with other membrane materials,…

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used common electronics to build a laser that pulses 100 times more often than conventional ultrafast lasers. The advance could extend the benefits of ultrafast science to new applications such as imaging of biological materials in real time. The technology for making electro-optic lasers…

In a marriage of quantum science and solid-state physics, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used magnetic fields to confine groups of electrons to a series of concentric rings within graphene, a single layer of tightly packed carbon atoms. This tiered “wedding cake,” which appears in images that show the…

Tinkering with a method they helped develop over the last few years, scientists have for the first time measured at the nanometer scale the characteristic patterns of folds that give proteins their three-dimensional shape in water. Developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues, this technique will help…

Invigorating the idea of computers based on fluids instead of silicon, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown how computational logic operations could be performed in a liquid medium by simulating the trapping of ions (charged atoms) in graphene (a sheet of carbon atoms) floating in saline solution. The scheme…

Over the last two decades, scientists have discovered that the optical microscope can be used to detect, track and image objects much smaller than their traditional limit — about half the wavelength of visible light, or a few hundred nanometers. That pioneering research, which won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has enabled researchers to…

If Alexander Yulaev and his colleagues had their druthers, they’d do away with whiskers altogether. These scientists don’t have anything against facial hair, but they would love to eliminate the whisker-like filaments that can short out the next-generation lithium batteries that are potentially safer and more efficient than conventional lithium-ion batteries. Using real-time nanoscale imaging…

Imagine a single particle, only one-tenth the diameter of a bacterium, whose miniscule jiggles induce sustained vibrations in an entire mechanical device some 50 times larger. By taking clever advantage of the interplay between light, electrons on the surface of metals, and heat, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have for…

Although few people realize it, modern medicine relies heavily on the ovarian cells of Chinese hamsters, not as a direct cure, but rather as a way to engineer custom protein-based therapeutics. These therapeutics can treat a wide range of ailments, including leukemia, hemophilia, hormone imbalance, psoriasis and cancer. A team working at the National Institute…

Like sandblasting at the nanometer scale, focused beams of ions ablate hard materials to form intricate three-dimensional patterns. The beams can create tiny features in the lateral dimensions — length and width, but to create the next generation of nanometer-scale devices, the energetic ions must precisely control the features in the vertical dimension — depth.…

Tiny pores at a cell’s entryway act as miniature bouncers, letting in some electrically charged atoms — ions — but blocking others. Operating as exquisitely sensitive filters, these “ion channels” play a critical role in biological functions such as muscle contraction and the firing of brain cells. To rapidly transport the right ions through the…

Catching cancer early can make all the difference for successful treatment. A common screening practice measures tumor growth with X-ray computed tomography (CT), which takes a series of cross-section images of the body. Before they are used in clinics, researchers test multiple CT imaging techniques with standard objects called “phantoms,” designed to mimic real tumors.…

Paving the way for testing experimental drugs in more realistic environments, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered how to make tiny colonies of cells grow in useful new ways inside petri dishes. The research team’s discoveries might help designers of miniature “lab-on-a-chip” technologies to grow three-dimensional colonies of liver…

For first responders, such as firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians, a successful outcome to a mission–and perhaps the difference between life and death for them and those they are helping–depends on their communications system. Recognizing this critical need, first responders and emergency management officials have been calling for high-speed, LTE (Long-Term Evolution) cellular…

If you’re wondering when a hydrogen-powered car will become a viable option for you, take heart. A team including scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) may have overcome a significant hurdle to manufacturing hydrogen fuel cells by creating a way to check whether the expensive catalysts the cells need have been…

In a pioneering effort to control, measure and understand magnetism at the atomic level, researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered a new method for manipulating the nanoscale properties of magnetic materials. The ability to control these properties has potential applications in creating and improving the magnetic memory in…

In a pioneering effort to control, measure and understand magnetism at the atomic level, researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered a new method for manipulating the nanoscale properties of magnetic materials. The ability to control these properties has potential applications in creating and improving the magnetic memory in…

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder have demonstrated a new mobile, ground-based system that could scan and map atmospheric gas plumes over kilometer distances. The system uses an eye-safe laser instrument to send light that “combs” the air to a flying multi-copter and analyzes the…

3D printing of metal objects is a booming industry, with the market for products and services worth more than an estimated $2.3 billion in 2015 – a nearly five-fold growth since 2010. For this type of manufacturing, a metal part is built up successively, layer by layer, over minutes or hours. Sometimes thousands of layers…