New Atom-Based Thermometer Measures Temperature More Accurately
By monitoring how giant Rydberg atoms interact with heat in their environment, Noah Schlossberger and colleagues can measure temperature with remarkable accuracy. Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a new thermometer using atoms boosted to such high energy levels that they are 1,000 times larger than normal.