Overwhelming success: digital lab day 2025 impresses across the board

International platform for laboratory digitization extended by one week

15-May-2025 - The digital lab day 2025 on May 14 was a great success and underlines the growing importance of digital events for the laboratory sector. With 2,271 registered participants from all over the world and a comprehensive program, the event offered a unique platform for knowledge transfer, innovation ...

A milestone on the pathway to Lab 4.0: A new standard for the smart lab

SPECTARIS presents the first industrial communication standard for laboratory and analytical devices

28-Dec-2023 - As of December 14, 2023, the Laboratory & Analytical Device Standard (LADS) can be officially used and integrated within laboratory and analytical devices. After a four-year development phase, the first version is now available and has been guided by key use cases from industrial practice. LADS ...

Psst! A whispering gallery for light boosts solar cells

17-Apr-2018 - Trapping light with an optical version of a whispering gallery, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a nanoscale coating for solar cells that enables them to absorb about 20 percent more sunlight than uncoated devices. The coating, applied with a ...

Unexpected effect could lead to lower-power memory, computing devices

20-Mar-2018 - An unexpected phenomenon known as zero field switching (ZFS) could lead to smaller, lower-power memory and computing devices than presently possible. The image shows a layering of platinum (Pt), tungsten (W), and a cobalt-iron-boron magnet (CoFeB) sandwiched at the ends by gold (Au) electrodes on ...

Young start-up team develops new reference materials for direct microanalysis of solids

Setting new standards in solids analysis

14-Mar-2018 - How badly plants are affected by contaminated soil, what the sea floor can reveal about past climate, or what yield an ore mine could deliver in future - an analysis of the chemical composition of minerals and rocks can often provide valuable information. For accurate results, not only are ...

Quantum thermometer or optical refrigerator?

26-Jun-2017 - In an arranged marriage of optics and mechanics, physicists have created microscopic structural beams that have a variety of powerful uses when light strikes them. Able to operate in ordinary, room-temperature environments, yet exploiting some of the deepest principles of quantum physics, these ...

X-rays from copper source set new gold standard for measuring industrial materials

17-May-2017 - Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have produced and precisely measured a spectrum of X-rays using a new, state-of-the-art machine. The instrument they used to measure the X-rays took 20 years to develop, and will help scientists working at the agency make ...

Measuring Planck's constant, watt balance brings world closer to new kilogram

22-Jun-2016 - A high-tech version of an old-fashioned balance scale at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has just brought scientists a critical step closer toward a new and improved definition of the kilogram. The scale, called the NIST-4 watt balance, has conducted its first ...

Standard to improve sustainable manufacturing

31-May-2016 - Anyone who's ever covered a wall with sticky notes to clearly map all of the steps in a process knows how valuable that exercise can be. It can streamline workflow, increase efficiency and improve the overall quality of the end result. Now, a public-private team led by the National Institute of ...

Fleet and fast

Test for nanomanufacturing quality control

08-Mar-2016 - Manufacturers may soon have a speedy and nondestructive way to test a wide array of materials under real-world conditions, thanks to an advance that researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made in roll-to-roll measurements. Roll-to-roll measurements are ...