Take a look inside a lab! Today, we’re offering a sneak peek of some new work being done in the room where the NIST-4 Kibble Balance is located. This mechanical and quantum electrical device serves as the primary standard for the unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) or metric system. It uses a high-accuracy comparison of electrical power that’s measured in terms of quantum voltage and resistance with the mechanical power of a physical kilogram mass in motion. But that’s not all

Hush! Take a step into one of the best laboratories in the world for minimizing mechanical vibrations and electromagnetic fields. The lab is a controlled environment deep underground, in which our researchers make 3D nanoscale measurements using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to study the small things, such as the fine features of semiconductor chips or nanoparticles. The SEM is housed inside a cleanroom space, which allows us to avoid contamination of our samples by the environment. The i

Look inside a lab! Today, we’re stepping into a special space for national metrology institutes around the world. The NIST-4 Kibble balance provides the definition of mass for the United States. It’s basing its measurements on the Planck constant that was given a fixed value as part of the redefinition of the kilogram in 2019. But not every country around the world can afford to house that kind of massive instrument. That’s why we have a shrunken version, which our researchers are working to mak