Stephen Eckel News Today

A novel, quantum-based vacuum gauge system invented by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has passed its first...

Illustration of a new optical system to miniaturize the laser cooling of atoms, a key step towards cooling atoms on a microchip. A beam of laser light is launched from a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), aided by an element called an extreme mode converter (EMC) that greatly expands the beam. The beam then strikes a carefully engineered, ultrathin film known as a metasurface (MS), which is studded with tiny pillars that further expand and shape the beam. The beam is diffracted from a grating c...