Calibration services

News and Updates

NIST Offers New Calibration Service for Wavemeters

December 23, 2024

For more than three decades, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has calibrated the wavelengths of lasers used in industry, academia, and

Cassie Stoffer smiles while wearing safety glasses and standing next to a large metal tank with many pipes and wires attached to it.

Spotlight: Cassie Stoffer Helps Run Calibration and Measurement Services Related to Magnetic Resonance

August 27, 2024

If you ask NIST physicist Cassie Stoffer what she finds most exciting about science, it’s seeing what she learned in a textbook have real-world applications

A sunset. Text reads: "Radio Station WWVH. Reception Report, 15.0 MHz. Serial #23818. Date 4/7/2023."

Spotlight: Disseminating Time Signals Far and Wide With NIST’s Radio Stations

January 31, 2024

There are dedicated, enthusiastic people in this world who have made a cause (and hobby) out of saying, “I heard that.” NIST is keenly aware. We’re talking

Projects and Programs

Transfer radiometers and reference detectors

Ongoing

Use of these radiometers depends on a primary standard detector and a secondary transfer detector. We generally employ an absolute cryogenic radiometer (ACR) as the primary standard detector to calibrate the transfer detector, a Si:As blocked-impurity-band (BIB) detector. The transfer detector is

Getting from Qubit to Mega-Qubit Quantum Computers with Radio Frequency (RF) Calibrations

Ongoing

“Getting from Qubit to Mega-Qubit Quantum Computers with RF Calibrations” is a multi-laboratory effort to develop precision radio frequency measurements in the coldest and darkest places on the planet, cryostats and dilution refrigerators. The projects in this multi-laboratory effort are focused on

Medical (Archive): Calibrations of Large-Volume, Solid Ge-68 Phantom Sources for Monitoring PET Scanner Performance in Clinical Trials

Completed

Although the data from most PET studies are often used on a relative basis, the quality of the analysis will be greatly improved if the data can be normalized using a common reference standard that allows instrumental variability to be minimized. This requires long-lived PET phantoms to be available

Calibrations: Neutron Source Strength

Ongoing

Calibrations are performed using the manganous sulfate bath technique in which the emission rate of the source to be calibrated is compared to the emission rate of NBS–1, the national standard Ra–Be photo-neutron source. Neutron source calibrations typically have a relative expanded uncertainty ( k

Publications

Comparison of Three Methods for Oscillating Flow Measurements in Cryocoolers

October 16, 2024

Author(s)

Ryan Snodgrass, Vincent Kotsubo, Joel Ullom

Measurement of oscillating mass flows is typically required for the study of cryocoolers and cryocooler compressors. Although many measurement techniques are

Traceable RF Power Metering Procedures With Thermoelectric Sensors

September 4, 2024

Author(s)

Zenn Roberts, Aaron Hagerstrom, Cole Gray, Angela Stelson, Vincent Neylon, Christian Long

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) maintains the United State's primary standards for traceable RF and mm-wave power measurements. These

NIST's Antenna Gain and Polarization Calibration Service Reinstatement

October 9, 2023

Author(s)

Josh Gordon, Benjamin Moser

After a five-year renovation of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Boulder, CO, antenna measurement facility, the Antenna On-Axis Gain

Report from the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography Working Group Meeting: Current State, Needs, and Path Forward

August 22, 2023

Author(s)

Elizabeth Rasmussen, Boris Wilthan, Brian Simonds

This is the report of a hybrid working group meeting held on April 25, 2023, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, CO. The

Tools and Instruments

aperture area measurement (AAM) instrument

Awards

Igor Vayshenker Receives Rocky Mountain Eagle Award

Fiber optic cable forms the backbone of the U.S. internet. Optical Fiber Power is the most basic measurement for qualifying the performance

Calibration services

News and Updates

NIST Offers New Calibration Service for Wavemeters

Spotlight: Cassie Stoffer Helps Run Calibration and Measurement Services Related to Magnetic Resonance

Spotlight: Disseminating Time Signals Far and Wide With NIST’s Radio Stations

Projects and Programs

Transfer radiometers and reference detectors

Getting from Qubit to Mega-Qubit Quantum Computers with Radio Frequency (RF) Calibrations

Medical (Archive): Calibrations of Large-Volume, Solid Ge-68 Phantom Sources for Monitoring PET Scanner Performance in Clinical Trials

Calibrations: Neutron Source Strength

Publications

Comparison of Three Methods for Oscillating Flow Measurements in Cryocoolers

Traceable RF Power Metering Procedures With Thermoelectric Sensors

NIST's Antenna Gain and Polarization Calibration Service Reinstatement

Report from the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography Working Group Meeting: Current State, Needs, and Path Forward

Tools and Instruments

Optical Aperture Area and Coordinate Measurement Facility

Primary optical watt radiometer (POWR) facility

4.45 MN Deadweight Force Generating Machine (Million Pound Force Dead Weight Machine)

SIRCUS facility and uncertainties

Awards

Igor Vayshenker Receives Rocky Mountain Eagle Award