NIST Physics Lab: Tech. Activities 2001

"Technical Activities 2001" - Table of Contents

Katharine B. Gebbie
Director of the Physics Laboratory

Introduction

Scope

This report summarizes the technical programs of the Physics Laboratory for FY 2001 (October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001). The Laboratory is one of seven major technical units of NIST. It consists of six divisions: Electron and Optical Physics, Atomic Physics, Optical Technology, Ionizing Radiation, Time and Frequency (Boulder), and Quantum Physics (Boulder). Located in the Laboratory office are two cross-cutting programs, the Fundamental Constants Data Center and the Office for Electronic Commerce in Scientific and Engineering Data. The Quantum Physics Division is the NIST component of JILA, a major, cooperative, research program with the University of Colorado.

The Physics Laboratory supports the NIST mission by providing measurement services and research for electronic, optical, and radiation technology. We aim to provide the best possible foundation for measuring optical and ionizing radiation, time and frequency, and fundamental quantum processes. We maintain the U.S. national standards for the Système International (SI) base units of time (the second), light (the candela), and high temperature (above 1200 K). We provide the basis for such SI derived units as the hertz (frequency), the becquerel (radioactivity), and the optical watt and the lumen (light intensity).

Scientists in the Physics Laboratory work with industry and the other Laboratories of NIST to develop new measurement technologies that can be applied to areas such as communications, microelectronics, magnetics, photonics, industrial radiation processing, the environment, health care, transportation, defense, energy, and space.

Delivering Results

The strength of NIST in general, and of the Physics Laboratory in particular, is that we are vertically integrated with a balanced portfolio of programs, from those that address the immediate needs of industry, government, and the scientific community, to the more fundamental research that anticipates the Nation's future needs. The Physics Laboratory addresses the fundamental triad of standards, measurement methods, and data in a climate of vigorous and competitive research. Just as the breadth, vigor, and excellence of our research programs provide credibility for our services, so the increasing demands on our services provide the direction and motivation for our research programs.

A good example can be found in our Time and Frequency Division. Here we provide seven different kinds of time and frequency services, ranging from our radio stations, which have spawned a whole new industry in radio controlled clocks, to our Internet Time Service, which receives 250 million hits a day, to our Frequency Measurement and Analysis Service, which is used mainly by major industrial calibration laboratories that serve the highest industrial and governmental demands.

To meet an immediate, challenging, industrial need, we are now working with industry to respond to a DARPA initiative to develop a revolutionary chip-scale atomic clock based on MEMS and VCSEL technologies.

At the same time, we are anticipating the need for still more accurate atomic clocks by working on three, new, primary frequency standards--a cesium fountain standard, a laser-cooled cesium atomic clock for the International Space Station, and an all-optical atomic clock referenced to the 1.064 petahertz transition in a single, laser cooled, trapped mercury ion and a femtosecond, mode-locked, laser frequency comb.

Equally exciting is that the scientists in the Division's ion cooling research group have positioned them as world leaders in the new field of quantum information with their work on trapped, cooled ion frequency standards.

A similar story could be told about our other divisions. For example, the Ionizing Radiation Division is now working with Exxon at the NIST Cold Neutron Research Facility to use the Physics Laboratory's neutron interferometer – the world's most sensitive – to image water in fuel cells. At the same time it is leading interagency initiatives and working with industry on ways to sterilize the mail with electron beam radiation.

The Physics Laboratory is proud that it has some of NIST's longest-standing and closest ties with industry. For example, in optics, we established in 1972 the Council for Optical Radiation Measurements (CORM) to define pressing problems and projected national needs in radiometry and photometry. It is a non-profit organization composed of individual members from 150 companies, 35 government agencies, and 25 universities interested in measurements of optical radiation including ultraviolet, visible, and infrared. Its aim is to establish a consensus among interested parties on requirements for physical standards, calibration services, and collaborative programs in the field of optical radiation measurements.

In 1992, building on the success of CORM, we formed the Council for Ionization Radiation Measurements and Standards (CIRMS) to advance and disseminate the physical standards needed for the safe and effective application of ionization radiation, including vacuum ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma-rays and energetic particles such as electrons, protons, and neutrons. Technological applications include medical diagnostics and therapy, public and environmental radiation protection, occupational radiation protection, industrial applications and materials effects, medical device sterilization, food irradiation, and, most recently, sterilization of the U.S. mail. This relationship with radiation users, formalized only recently, dates back to the founding of NBS in 1901 and the discovery of the x-ray.

In the case of Time and Frequency services, we determine industrial and national needs by a combination of decadal surveys, responses to phones calls and queries, and contacts with manufacturers of WWWVB clocks and GPS receivers. We are, even now, analyzing the 18,000 responses we have received to our 2001 survey.

Whatever the criteria of success, the Laboratory is among the world's leaders in basic and applied metrology. Our scientists contribute to important practical programs as well as strategic, fundamental research. The Laboratory's great strengths include not only its multiple contributions to basic physics, chemistry, and materials science and its seminal role in fundamental measurement technology, but also the application of this measurement technology to specific industrial requirements.

Organization of Report

This report has nine main sections: organization and personnel; program planning and proposals; and seven sections focused on highlights of the year's accomplishments and current and future opportunities for the Laboratory's cross-cutting programs and the six divisions. Following these sections are appendices listing some of our output: publications, talks, collaborations, etc. To obtain more information about particular work, the reader should address the appropriate scientists or the Physics Laboratory office:

Physics Laboratory: National Institute of Standards and Technology; 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8400; Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8400; Telephone: 301-975-4200
Website: http://physics.nist.gov

Our website includes administrative and technical information, tables of evaluated reference data, research summaries, image galleries, and tutorial materials. One of the most popular websites at NIST with about 700,000 downloads per month, it has won several awards for the quality of its content and presentation.