(NIST: 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,¹ NIST’s prototype chip was used to generate infrared light at a wavelength of 780 nm, 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 sq cm, about one ten-thousandth of the volume of other compact devices offering similar measurement precision.

“Compared to other devices that use chips for guiding light waves to probe atoms, our chip increases the measurement precision a hundredfold,” says NIST physicist Matt Hummon. “Our chip currently relies on a small external laser and optics table, but in future designs, we hope to put everything on the chip.”

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