Mini Toolkit for Measurements: New NIST Chip Hints at Quantum Sensors of the Future
GAITHERSBURG, MD — Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a chip on which laser light interacts with a tiny cloud of atoms to serve as a miniature toolkit for measuring important quantities such as length with quantum precision. The design could be mass-produced with existing technology.
As described in Optica, NIST’s prototype chip was used to generate infrared light at a wavelength of 780 nanometers, precisely enough to be used as a length reference for calibrating other instruments. The NIST chip packs the atom cloud and structures for guiding light waves into less than 1 square centimeter, about one ten-thousandth of the volume of other compact devices offering similar measurement precision.