Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology articles from January 2002

Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology archives from January 2002

Message from the chief editor.
January 1, 2002... Dear Reader, With an article in this issue we conclude our series of "Treasures of the Past" to commemorate the NIST Centennial. Ten historic papers were selected from previous issues of the Journal of Research of the National Institute of...

Data analysis methods for synthetic polymer mass spectrometry: autocorrelation.
January 1, 2002... Autocorrelation is shown to be useful in describing the periodic patterns found in high- resolution mass spectra of synthetic polymers. Examples of this usefulness are described for a simple linear homopolymer to demonstrate the method...

The 1997 North American interagency Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Spectroradiometers including narrowband filter radiometers.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... The fourth North American Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Monitoring Spectroradiometers was held September 15 to 25, 1997 at Table Mountain outside of Boulder, Colorado, USA. Concern over stratospheric ozone depletion has prompted several...

Electron-impact total ionization cross sections of hydrocarbon ions.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... The Binary-Encounter-Bethe (BEB) model for electron-impact total ionization cross sections has been applied to [CH.sup.+.sub.2], [CH.sup.+.sub.3], [CH.sup.+.sub.4], [C.sub.2][H.sup.+.sub.2], [C.sub.2][H.sup.+.sub.4], [C.sub.2][H.sup.+.sub.6],...

A systematic approach for multidimensional, closed-form analytic modeling: effective intrinsic carrier concentrations in [Ga.sub.1-x][Al.sub.x]As heterostructures.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... A critical issue identified in both the technology roadmap from the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association and the roadmaps from the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, Inc. is the need for predictive computer simulations...

Quantitating fluorescence intensity from fluorophore: the definition of MESF assignment.
January 1, 2002... The quantitation of fluorescence radiance may at first suggest the need to obtain the number of fluorophore that are responsible for the measured fluorescence radiance. This goal is beset by many difficulties since the fluorescence radiance...

The state of the art and practice in digital preservation.
January 1, 2002... The goal of digital preservation is to ensure long-term access to digitally stored information. In this paper, we present a survey of techniques used in digital preservation. We also introduce representative digital preservation projects and...

Treasure of the past X.
January 1, 2002... This paper from the Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards, Vol. 101, 1996, pp. 505-520, is reprinted to commemorate the NIST Centennial on March 3, 2001. Ten papers have been selected from the Journal and its predecessors for...

A spectroscopic determination of scattering lengths for sodium atom collisions.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... We report a preliminary value for the zero magnetic field Na [S.sup.2](f = 1, m = -1) + Na [S.sup.2](f = 1, m = -1) scattering length. [a.sub.1,-1]. This parameter describes the low-energy elastic two-body processes in a dilute gas of composite...

Past Precision Measurement Grant holder wins Nobel Prize. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... The 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics will be shared by two JILA fellows, Eric Cornell of NIST and Carl Wieman of the University of Colorado, and Wolfgang Ketterle of MIT for their work on Bose-Einstein condensation of atoms. In 1979, Carl...

NIST completes two CIPM key comparisons. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Two pressure key comparisons, piloted by NIST, under the auspices of the CCM/CIPM, were recently completed. Comparison CCM.P-K4 spanned 1 Pa to 1000 Pa (absolute), and involved seven national metrology institutes (NMIs) using two different...

NIST scientists discover an unexpected optical property important to microchip manufactures. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Scientists at NIST have determined that calcium fluoride, one of the principal materials used for optics in the ultraviolet spectral region, exhibits an unexpected, intrinsic birefringence in the deep ultraviolet. The presence of the effect has...

NIST scientists image ring magnets using SEMPA. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Researchers at NIST, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, Thin Film Magnetism Group, have used the NIST Scanning Electron Microscopy with Polarization Analysis (SEMPA) facility to directly image the magnetic domain structure of...

Improved radiometric standards lead to high-accuracy measurements. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Improvements in detector-based technology over the past decade have opened a new era in the field of metrology for radiometry and photometry. NIST Technical Note TN-1438 was published to summarize the results of the research and development...

NIST publishes 2001 Edition of SP 330. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... The 2001 Edition of NIST Special Publication 330, The International System of Units (SI), is now available. SP 330 is the U.S. version of the English text of the seventh edition (the most recent) of the definitive international reference on the...

Electromagnetic compatibility testing facility installed in force laboratory. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... A NIST scientist successfully led the efforts to procure, prepare, install, and validate an electromagnetic compatibility testing facility for immunity measurements of digital load cells. This facility has been installed as part of the NIST...

NIST AIDS development of new bone graft materials. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Scientists from NIST and research associates from the American Dental Association Health Foundation have demonstrated a new approach to bone regeneration. More than 100 000 bone grafts are performed each year in the United States, but the...

Stresses in electron beam weld joints of superalloys. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Single crystalline turbine blades are the pinnacle of a decade-long development and refinement of nickel-based superalloys. Because of the considerable investment in manufacturing, electron beam welding with a polycrystalline replacement...

Patient issued for reverse-angle X-ray diffraction. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Patent 6,269,144 was recently issued to NIST for a "Method and Apparatus for Diffraction Measurement Using a Scanning X-ray Source." The concept combines the high-energy X-ray diffraction technology that has been developed by NIST during the...

Internet-assisted, on-site special test performed by NIST. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Staff at NIST have completed the first Internet-assisted, on-site special test of an electronic instrument. The test was performed for the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the instrument under test was a multifunction calibrator used to...

NIST staff develop microwave power standard for Singapore Standards Board. (News Briefs).(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
January 1, 2002... NIST microwave power standards consist of microcalorimeters as primary reference standards and bolometric detectors as secondary transfer standards. NIST builds and maintains both standards for its own use and also builds bolometric detectors...

NIST measurement is adapted to meet telecommunications industry needs. (News Briefs).(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
January 1, 2002... To meet the emerging metrology needs of the telecommunications industry, NIST scientists have significantly improved NISTs measurement capabilities for chromatic dispersion. Dispersion causes data pulses in optical fiber systems to broaden,...

NIST evaluates dynamic service discovery protocols. (News Briefs).(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
January 1, 2002... Working as part of the NIST Pervasive Computing Program, NIST researchers applied architectural modeling to analyze the quality of service provided by dynamic service discovery protocols under conditions of network failure. Service discovery...

Roof collapse studied to help protect firefighters. (News Briefs).
January 1, 2002... NIST, in cooperation with the Kinston, NC, fire department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, conducted a house fire test in part to measure the deflection of the roof from ignition to collapse. The feasibility study, funded by...

NIST arenas used for urban search and rescue robot competition. (News Briefs).(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
January 1, 2002... The NIST reference arenas for evaluating the performance of search and rescue robots were shipped to Seattle, WA, in early August for use in the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence mobile robot rescue competition, which...

Properties of ionic liquids--new solvents for green chemistry. (News Briefs).
January 1, 2002... Ionic liquids are a class of organic salts that are liquid at or near room temperature. Because they are nonvolatile and non-flammable, they have been proposed as recyclable "green solvents." The physical properties of ionic liquids may be...

Shape-sensitive linewidth measurement passes its first test. (News Briefs).
January 1, 2002... With support from International SEMATECH, NIST researchers have been developing a method for obtaining edge shape as well as line width information from images of silicon features (e.g., lines, transistor gates) in integrated circuits. The...

NIST develops an improved modular radiometer/photometer system. (News Briefs).(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
January 1, 2002... A new generation photo/radiometer system has been established to realize and propagate the high accuracy detector-based radiometric scales maintained by NIST. The radiometers can measure a variety of radiometric quantities such as radiant...

MOBY: afloat in Hawaii. (News Briefs).
January 1, 2002... A Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY) off the coast of Lanai in the Hawaiian Islands is the centerpiece of the primary ocean measurement site for calibrating satellite-born ocean color sensors. The project, which is being led by NOAA with the support of...

NIST results lead to improvement in Zener voltage reference. (News Briefs).(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
January 1, 2002... Measurements made at NIST for the characterization of Zener voltage standards have enabled the manufacturer to redesign their instruments for improved behavior. As part of NIST's efforts to develop a 10 V measurement assurance program (MAP),...

NIST researchers characterize tile temperature-dependent dielectric properties of polymer materials to aid the electronics industry. (News Briefs).(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
January 1, 2002... NIST staff members have completed dielectric measurements on a selection of plastic materials. The goal of the research was to obtain well-characterized, variable temperature measurements on a wide array of polymer materials and to develop new...

Pulsed inductive microwave magnetometer developed at NIST. (News Briefs).
January 1, 2002... As part of its program in high-speed magnetics, NIST has developed an automated, pulsed inductive microwave magnetometer (PIMM) to characterize magnetic thin films. The PIMM is designed to measure the magnetodynamical properties of materials...

Smoke detector tests in Kinston, NC. (News Briefs).
January 1, 2002... During September 2001, a NIST team of engineers and technicians instrumented and burned a two-story, single-family home in Kinston, N.C., in order to characterize the performance of different types of smoke detectors. Smoke detector arrays were...

Fire suppressant dispersion in a cold aircraft engine nacelle. (News Briefs).
January 1, 2002... Halon 1301 is the predominant fire suppressant used to extinguish aircraft engine-nacelle fires. Due to its adverse effect on the ozone layer, halon 1301 has been banned from production in the United States since 1994 in compliance with the...

Improved technique for characterization of texture in thick plates. (News Briefs).
January 1, 2002... Commercial metal alloys used for structures are usually produced by rolling or extrusion into the form of plates, bars, or beams. These fabrication processes leave their mark on the material in the form of a texture or preferred orientation of...

New test capability probes failure processes in polymer composites. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... A new measurement tool for visualizing and quantifying time-dependent failure mechanisms in polymer composites has been developed at NIST. The new test method produces optical images of multi-fiber test specimens as the specimens are deformed...

Domain walls in AF/FM magnetic bilayers. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... The exchange coupling between a ferromagnet (FM) and an antiferromagnet (AF) creates a magnetic bias field on the ferromagnet and thereby controls its magnetization characteristics. Discovered more than 40 years ago, this perplexing phenomenon...

NIST cherry road CD incorporated into Command School curriculum. (News Briefs).(National Institutes of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Command School is a 3 day training symposium sponsored by the International Association of Fire Chiefs for fire department officers. The objective of the course is to improve fire incident command strategies to reduce firefighter deaths. The...

NIST releases new resource for computer forensics community. (News Briefs).(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... NIST released Version 1.0 of the National Software Reference Library (NSRL) Reference Data Set (RDS) to the computer forensics community on Oct. 30, 2001. Version 1.1 is due to be released by mid-March 2002. The RDS is a resource for law...

Novel computation enables best-yet estimate of ground state of neutral helium. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... A NIST scientist, in collaboration with Indiana University, has computed the nonrelativistic energy for the ground [S.sup.1] state of neutral helium to be -2.9037 2437 7034 1195 9829 99 a.u. This represents the highest accuracy computation of...

NIST partners with NSA to validate smart card security requirements. (News Briefs).(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Smart cards--credit card-sized plastic cards with a small embedded computer chip that can process or store information--just got smarter and safer, thanks to a NIST collaboration with the National Security Agency (NSA), in which the two...

Neutron methods link microstructure to processing and performance for thermal barrier coatings. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Although coatings are used in the electric utility and aircraft industries to protect advanced gas turbines from increasingly high operating temperatures, there is presently no single industrial technique that can quantify the component void...

"Phase field" model of electrodeposition. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... NIST metallurgists have for the first time applied the phase field method to the modeling of electrochemical processes. This method employs a phase-field variable, a function of position and time which describes whether the material at a...

A model system for scattering studies of membrane proteins. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Because of the difficulty in crystallizing membrane proteins, there is considerable interest in identifying systems that mimic biological membranes and facilitate structural studies of inserted proteins. Solutions of lipidrich mixtures of...

Breakthrough in sub-10 nm nanofabrication in silicon. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... NIST researchers in the atom-based dimensional metrology project made a significant breakthrough in the processing and fabrication of atomically flat and ordered silicon surfaces. The researchers have written features of critical dimensions as...

Successful polishing process makes progress toward MEMS capability. (News Briefs).(micro-electrical-mechanical systems)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... A NIST scientist succeeded in using a chemical mechanical polishing methodology developed at Stockton College, NJ, to polish tungsten-coated silicon wafers. The specific need is for a high quality, uniform optical polish as a means of...

Precessional switching in magnetic memory devices demonstrated by NIST. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... A particular type of thin-film magnetic device called a spin-valve can be engineered to have two stable states of electrical resistance based on the relative magnetization orientation of its ferromagnetic layers. This property has motivated a...