Phys.org July 20, 2021 Most conventional methods used to image objects behind an obstruction use ultra-short pulses in visible or infrared range. Researchers at NIST developed a method using submillimeter range, ranging from 300 micrometers up to 1 millimeter. In this range walls made of a variety of materials appear relatively smooth and act as partial mirrors, reflecting rather than diffusely scattering into view radiation from a concealed object. They used a curved mirrors to focus the invisible light. The prototype technique employed state-of-the-art indium phosphide transistors, which amplify submillimeter radiation with little noise over a wide range of wavelengths. […]
Tag Archives: NIST
A decade of Physics World breakthroughs: 2009 – the first quantum computer
Physics World November 29, 2019 Physics World journalists look back at the past decade of winners and explore how research in that field has moved on. Here they examine the 2009 breakthrough for the first “quantum computer”. In August 2009, a NIST team unveiled the first small-scale device that could be described as a quantum computer building up to the breakthrough where the team had used ultracold ions to demonstrate separately all of the steps needed for quantum computation; initializing the qubits; storing them in ions; performing a logic operation on one or two qubits; transferring the information between different […]
Optical neural network demo
Science Daily July 28, 2018 Researchers at NIST stacked waveguides made of silicon nitride to form a three-dimensional grid with 10 inputs or “upstream” neurons each connecting to 10 outputs or “downstream” neurons, for a total of 100 receivers. They created software to automatically generate signal routing, with adjustable levels of connectivity between the neurons. Laser light was directed into the chip through an optical fiber routing each input to every output group, following a selected distribution pattern for light intensity or power. To evaluate the results, researchers made images of the output signals. The output was highly uniform, with […]