National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

To safely navigate planes, precisely fabricate billions of microchips, and perform myriad other critical tasks, the U.S. military and industry must calibrate their power supplies and electrical measuring devices using the most up-to-date quantum standards for voltage and resistance. However, those calibrations are costly, involve multiple steps, and are time consuming, in part because the electrical standards for voltage and resistance have to be created in different instruments.     NIST scientists are now studying a class of quantum materials that could allow voltage, resistance and current standards to be realized in the same device. With the help of collaborators and investors to broaden and accelerate the project, the study may ultimately lead to the design of a portable, all-in-one system fundamentally changing the way electrical measurements are calibrated in industry and research.    Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eBGf9n2c 

Earthquakes can have devastating effects that threaten public safety and social and economic well-being.  Even if the building does not collapse, an earthquake might render apartments, hospitals, schools, and other buildings uninhabitable or unusable, causing an economic disaster that continues to distress a community long after the earthquake.  That's why researchers at NIST are studying "functional recovery"--the idea that structures should be designed to not only keep people alive during earthquakes but also keep the building usable afterwards. In this full-scale experiment, a ten-story building was constructed on a platform called a shake table that can move like an earthquake. Located at UC San Diego, this is the largest shake table in the United States. Tests like this are expensive, so research collaborations across academia, industry, and government agencies help leverage each test to the fullest. NIST's research is just one part of this enormous collaborative project. The work is led by the UC San Diego Structural Engineering Department and The Johns Hopkins University. You can learn more about the project here: https://cfs10.ucsd.edu #Earthquakes #PublicSafety #Structures

You probably don’t think about atomic clocks when you call a ride-share or ask your phone to help you get somewhere. But the navigation apps we rely on daily are powered by positioning satellites, carrying atomic clocks. Without the precise timing provided by atomic clocks, GPS wouldn’t function — and the blue dot on your phone would no longer tell you where you are. Atomic clocks shape our world in more ways than that. When we fly, GPS helps your pilots land the plane safely. Any time we buy or sell a stock, the transaction is stamped using atomic time. The power grid we rely on is regulated and synchronized using atomic time. There’s also time itself. Perhaps the first thing you did this morning was grab your phone and check the time, hoping for a few more minutes of sleep. Where did the time on your phone’s display come from? Atomic clocks. Learn more about how this remarkable technology has transformed our world: https://lnkd.in/efqE_yKw #Time #Technology #GPS #AtomicClocks

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated much of Puerto Rico, damaging infrastructure that communities relied on for medical care, safety, communications and more. In 2018, NIST launched a technical investigation and research study focusing on how buildings and other structures failed and how such failures can be prevented in the future. Investigators have been studying Hurricane Maria’s wind environment and the conditions that led to injuries and deaths; the performance of critical buildings and designated shelters as well as emergency communications systems and the public’s response to those communications; and the post-hurricane recovery of businesses, hospitals and schools, along with the services they provide. NIST anticipates releasing the results of the Hurricane Maria investigation and study in 2026. To learn more, go to: https://lnkd.in/eYdWtdU4 #HurricaneMaria #NaturalDisaster #Investigation

Precisely measuring pressure is essential to dozens of industrial applications including petroleum refining, as well as in aircraft altimeters, internal combustion engines and turbines, leak detection, microchip manufacture, and aerospace.     A team including NIST researchers has now overcome a major obstacle in measuring gas pressure with a novel, potentially more accurate method – using beams of light traversing through a gas.    Ultimately, this may enable industry to establish their own optical pressure scales directly traceable to the fundamental constants of nature, saving both cost and time by eliminating the need to send pressure-measuring devices to NIST for calibration.    🔗 https://lnkd.in/e7jvkC8Z  

Atoms, particles of light, and everything else that follows the rules of quantum mechanics can exhibit completely random behavior. As described in this issue, this randomness has been harnessed to create a free service that produces random numbers for potential applications like secure encryption keys and unbiased audit selections. Including collaborators from the University of Colorado Boulder, this work builds on previous achievements at NIST, such as showing that quantum mechanics can generate totally random numbers and that quantum entanglement, a central element in the random number generator, produces truly random results. And be sure to visit our International Year of Quantum page, where we continue to add new content! —Ben P. Stein, Managing Editor

In the Wild West of quantum information science, postdoctoral researcher Cory Nunn is among the bright minds on the frontier with NIST.     Cory is one piece of the puzzle that is DC-QNet, the Washington Metropolitan Quantum Network Research Consortium. It’s a collaboration among multiple government agencies in the Washington D.C. metro area and affiliates at the Joint Quantum Institute, and it takes us toward a future beyond a single quantum computer. We’re talking about connecting quantum computers, sensors and other technologies together into an internet of sorts.     Right now, we are in the earliest stages of making that dream a reality.      In order for quantum computers to distribute information among one another in a network, it’s important for them to be able to send delicately connected packets of light (entangled photons) via fiber optics across distances. These entangled photons might travel with ease in a controlled laboratory setting but can be disrupted by the imperfections of the real world.     That’s what DC-QNet is all about, and where Cory finds his passion.     At NIST since 2023 via the National Research Council Research Associateship Programs, Cory finds his home base to be fascinating because there are so many projects happening, and there’s no shortage of good ideas. Experienced people put us on the cutting edge, and Cory is working with them.     Learn about Cory’s background in this article from his Ph.D. alma mater, the University of Maryland Baltimore County: https://lnkd.in/eM-kZuZu    #Quantum #QuantumTechnology #QuantumComputing 

From hospitals to the heavens, NIST research is helping to expand the frontiers of health care. NIST measurements have been used to improve small, portable MRI machines, which have increasingly become available to health care providers. This technology helps make MRIs more accessible to people in ambulances, mobile settings or areas without easy access to hospitals. Researchers are also looking to measure radiation exposure in space. If humans are going to spend any amount of time in space, we need to know how to do so in a healthy way. Part of that will be studying the amount of radiation in space and understanding our bodies’ ability to tolerate it. Learn more in our latest Taking Measure blog post: https://lnkd.in/edUrg92n #Cancer #Research #Radiation #Exposure

The mantis shrimp packs a powerful punch and can crack clam shells with the force of a .22 caliber bullet. It can do so thanks to unique structures in its exoskeleton. NIST researchers turned to this small underwater predator for inspiration. They fabricated synthetic versions of the unique structures and tested their impact resistance by firing microprojectiles at them using a high-intensity laser. They then used an ultrafast camera to record images of the microprojectile’s impacts. The results mark an important advance in bioinspired materials design with a variety of uses:  ▪️helping spacecraft survive the impact of micrometeoroids  ▪️protecting orbiting satellites that collide with debris  ▪️improving helmets and bullet-resistant glass Check out the results: https://lnkd.in/gQHQsB4G  #MaterialsScience #Nanomaterials #Nanotechnology #Engineering 

NIST’s National Construction Safety Team has released an update on its investigation into the June 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida. The team is evaluating two dozen hypotheses, relying on extensive physical evidence, imagery, historical records, witness interviews, remote sensing data, laboratory testing, computer modeling and more. In this video, team leads Judith Mitrani-Reiser and Glenn Bell describe the extensive planning and coordination that is helping them systematically work through analyses, testing and modeling to develop preliminary findings. Watch the video to hear directly from NIST experts.