Considered the most technically advanced research facility of its
kind in the world, the new Advanced Measurement Laboratory (AML)
dedicated on June 21, 2004 at the Commerce Department's National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will support some of
the world's most delicate experiments in nanotechnology and measurement
at the atomic level. Commerce General Counsel and Deputy Secretary
Designate Theodore W. Kassinger, Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), Rep.
Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Dr. John H. Marburger III, Director
of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, were
among the participants in the formal opening ceremony at the NIST
campus in Gaithersburg, Md.
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complete story.
NIST's
Advanced Measurement Laboratory
NIST’s
new Advanced Measurement Laboratory (AML) is the most technically
advanced research facility of its kind in the world. The $235 million,
49,843 square meter (536,507 square foot) laboratory features five
separate wings – two of them buried 12 meters (39 feet) underground
– with stringent environmental controls on air quality, temperature,
vibration, and humidity. The new facility allows NIST to provide
the sophisticated measurements and standards needed by U.S. industry
and the scientific community for key 21st Century technologies such
as nanotechnology, semiconductors, biotechnology, advanced materials,
quantum computing and advanced manufacturing. AML will support some
of the world’s most delicate experiments in nanotechnology
and measurement at the atomic level. NIST research efforts planned
for the new facility range from improved calibrations and measurement
of fundamental quantities such as mass, length and electrical resistance
to the development of quantum computing technology, nanoscale measurement
tools, integrated microchip-level technologies for measuring individual
biological molecules, and experiments in nanoscale chemistry. Read
more about the AML. (Image courtesy of HDR.)
Business
researchers can work side-by-side with NIST researchers under a
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. Under certain conditions,
NIST also makes its facilities available for private research. See
NIST's
Domestic Guest Research Program.
The NIST Center
for Neutron Research (NCNR) serves more than 1,700 scientists
annually from industry, university, and government agencies. The
NCNR is the only cold (i.e. low energy) neutron facility with comprehensive
capability in the United States, providing tools essential to study
the complex biological, polymeric and composite materials that are
at the forefront of nanomaterials research.
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