March 31, 2003

In This Issue:
	NIST, HP Move Toward Critical Molecular Electronics Measurements
	New Report Details NIST Law Enforcement Activities
	NIST Conference to Showcase Latest in DVD Tech and Standards
	NIST Researchers ‘Go Dancing’ with Synchronized Lasers
	NIST to Discontinue Its Role in Satellite Time Dissemination
	NIST Seeks Comments on Revised Standards for Wood Panels

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Nanotechnology

NIST, HP Move Toward Critical Molecular Electronics Measurements

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Hewlett Packard (HP) Laboratories will report this week that they are progressing toward reliable methods for measuring the electrical behavior of molecular electronic devices, an infant nanotechnology eyed for future integrated circuits.

Using a “crossbar” test structure consisting of a one-molecule-thick film (a monolayer) sandwiched between a series of perpendicular metal wires, collaborators at separate facilities recorded nearly identical electrical measurements. This step, along with others taken to eliminate potential sources of error, ensures that the measured behavior is directly attributable to the device, and not the experimental set-up.

To be announced on April 2, 2003, at the GOMACTECH Conference in Tampa, Fla., the accomplishment well may be the first capacitance-voltage measurements of a molecular-electronic device. These and other measurements confirmed that the device functioned like a switch, alternating between different currents in response to different input voltages.

The results also pose something of an enigma, says NIST physicist Curt Richter. The two-state system is due to the presence of the molecular layer, he writes with HP collaborator Duncan Stewart. However, the molecular monolayer is not the sole cause. Rather, the researchers say, the switch-like behavior is probably the result of an interaction at the interface between molecule and the wire electrode.

Although several research groups have demonstrated single-molecule devices in the laboratory, a suite of reliable measurement methods are needed to move molecular-electronics technology beyond the proof-of-concept stage.

To read the paper "Metrology for Molecular Electronics" by C.A. Richter and D. R. Stewart, go to: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/richter.pdf. (Download Adobe Acrobat Reader FREE)

For more information, contact Richter at (301) 975-2082 or curt.richter@nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Mark Bello, (301) 975-3776

 

Security and Safety

New Report Details NIST Law Enforcement Activities

A new report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) tells how its experts in fields ranging from forensic science to communications engineering have helped give the criminal justice and public safety communities a technological helping hand.

Office of Law Enforcement Standards: Programs, Activities and Accomplishments (NISTIR 6952) describes the research efforts of the scientists and engineers working in NIST’s Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES). Their projects have ranged from improved testing of computer forensic tools to new standards for stab resistant vests.

The report provides comprehensive descriptions of OLES activities that will be of great interest to police and fire departments, as well as other organizations concerned with law enforcement. The six OLES program areas covered in the publication are: weapons and protective systems; detection, inspection and enforcement technologies; chemical systems and materials; forensic sciences; public safety communication standards; and critical incident technologies. Examples of projects detailed within these chapters include the development of a performance standard for armored cars, an evaluation of sweat-based drug testing techniques, and advances in DNA identification methods/standards.

NISTIR 6952 may be viewed at www.eeel.nist.gov/lab_office/documents.html (click on “2003 Technical Programs, Activities, and Accomplishments” and then “Office of Law Enforcement Standards”). Single copies of NIST IR 6952 are available by writing to Sharon Lyles, OLES, NIST, Stop 8102, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-8102; or sending an e-mail to oles@nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Philip Bulman, (301) 975-5661

 

 

Information Technology

NIST Conference to Showcase Latest in DVD Tech and Standards

Declining prices and new software have combined to make DVD authoring tools available to home computer users. The change is bringing capabilities to home computer users that, as little as two years ago, were affordable only to professional video producers. In addition, private and public sector organizations are considering the use of DVD to manage and preserve their digital assets.

DVDs are used increasingly in arenas ranging from instructional training to preservation of massive amounts of digital information. They also are showing up as a replacement for VCRs in many American living rooms and corporate offices.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the DVD Association (DVDA) are holding their fourth annual inter-national conference, DVD 2003, on June 9-11, 2003. DVD 2003 will allow industry professionals to see firsthand how DVD technology—the premier format for video, audio and data storage—is influencing a variety of fields, including health care, finance and homeland security.

Topics for the three-day conference include: blue laser technology and HD-DVD, the interactivity of simulations and games with DVD, writable DVD standards and interoperability, the role of DVD in digital preservation, DVD usage in the federal government and niche markets. In addition to the technical program, DVD 2003 will feature short courses on DVD applications and vendor exhibits showing the latest in DVD authoring and replication tools.

DVD 2003 will be held at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md. Due to heightened security at federal facilities, preregistration is required.
More information about the conference, including an online registration form, is available at www.nist.gov/DVD2003.

Media Contact:
Philip Bulman, (301) 975-5661

 

 

Physics

NIST Researchers ‘Go Dancing’ with Synchronized Lasers

Pulsed lasers are like middle schoolers at a dance. You can put them in the same physical space but they still don’t pair up very well. Recently, however, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers working at JILA (a research and teaching institute operated jointly by the University of Colorado at Boulder and NIST’s Boulder Laboratories) have coaxed ultrafast pulsed lasers with different wavelengths not only to match the timing of their pulses but also to lock into the same “phase,” or cycle of peaks and troughs. To extend the analogy, the NIST researchers have made unruly, ultrafast lasers do the equivalent of two middle schoolers moving in perfect synchrony like Olympic ice dancers.

The technique provides an important new tool for studying the motions and vibrations of atom groups within molecules. By synchronizing and locking the wave forms of two, sub-picosecond lasers together, the NIST researchers have made a well-controlled, tunable source of infrared radiation that can be used to precisely break specific bonds or produce specific rotational or vibrational changes in large molecules. The technique also may be useful for transmitting ultraprecise frequency signals and for mapping the chemical composition of living cells with pulses so quick they do not damage the living tissue.

The ultimate goal of the research is to make an optical waveform synthesizer that can create an arbitrary optical pulse on demand and use this
tailored energy to control molecules and atoms precisely.

For more information, contact Jun Ye, (303) 735-3171, ye@jila.colorado.edu.

Media Contact:
Fred McGehan, Boulder, (303) 497-7000

 

 

Time and Frequency

NIST to Discontinue Its Role in Satellite Time Dissemination

Since 1974, the time and frequency signals of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have been relayed to most of the Western Hemisphere by two GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) weather satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The signals have been able to set clocks with suitable timing receivers to within 100 microseconds (millionths of a second) of the Coordinated Universal Time (known as UTC). However, most users of time signals have switched over to those provided by Global Positioning Satellites (GPS), which offer greater accuracy and a worldwide distribution. As a result, GOES timing receivers have been off the market for some time.

With the need for the satellite time service diminishing, NIST and NOAA recently made a joint decision for NIST to discontinue its involvement with the GOES program on Jan. 1, 2005. NIST will continue to control and monitor the time code through Jan. 1, 2005, to allow users who require a high-accuracy signal sufficient time to replace their existing receivers.

NOAA plans to provide a GOES time code indefinitely after Jan. 1, 2005. Existing receivers should be able to continue to receive and decode the time signal; however, the received time is expected to be less accurate when NIST discontinues its involvement.

For more information, contact Michael Lombardi, (303) 497-3212, lombardi@boulder.nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Fred McGehan Boulder, (303) 497-7000