Precision Measurement Grants

• Current Awards - 2008

  John Doyle
  Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

  Precision Search for an Electric Dipole Moment of the Electron using ThO
  
  Finding and measuring the permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) d_e of the electron would constitute the discovery of a new fundamental constant and have dramatic impact on our understanding of particles and fields. Placing a precise bound — in the case where a finite d_e is not found — would have similar impact on physics. We propose here to embark on an unprecendented search for the electron EDM, using our newly devised intense cold beam source with ThO. Improvements in sensitivity will be greater than 1000 over the current limits. This work, regardless of what it finds, will also push the frontier by developing new precision measurement technologies and methods.

  
  
  Jason E. Stalnaker
  Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio

  Precision Spectroscopy of Cold Lithium Atoms with a Femtosecond Frequency Comb
  
  The atomic structure of lithium (Li) has aroused a significant amount of theoretical and experimental interest as a system in which precision atomic calculations and spectroscopic measurements can be united to yield scientifically significant results. Atomic calculations have reached the precision where, when combined with precision measurements, the effects of nuclear structure and quantum electrodynamics can be distinguished. Past experimental investigations of Li have been plagued by systematic effects and are in serious disagreement. I am proposing to perform precision measurements of isotope shifts, fine structure, hyperfine structure, and absolute optical frequencies of the D1 and D2 transitions in atomic Li. These measurements will utilize a stabilized optical frequency comb and cold atoms. The combination of the absolute frequency control and calibration provided by the optical frequency comb with the motional control achievable with a laser cooled and trapped atomic sample will significantly reduce the uncertainties that limited previous results. The measurements proposed here will result in an improvement of more than a factor of 30 and 150 over the current discrepancies for the isotope shifts of the D1 and D2 trsnsitions in Li, respectively; providing a significant test of both atomic and nuclear theory.

• 38 years of Precision Measurement Grant

  NIST has awarded Precision Measurement Grants over the past 38 years to promote fundamental research in measurement science in U.S. colleges and universities. The grants are awarded for three years, with an initial year funding of $50,000. The funding may be renewed at $50,000 per year for up to two additional years, for a total of $150,000, at the discretion of NIST.

• Four Grantees win Nobel Prize in Physics

  The 2005 award of the Nobel Prize in Physics to Theodor W. Hänsch of the Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik Garching and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, along with John L. Hall of NIST at Boulder, JILA, and the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Roy J. Glauber of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, brings to four the number of NIST Precision Measurement Grant awardees who have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. Hänsch was awarded a Precision Measurement Grant in 1974 for work on precision laser spectroscopy of one-electron atoms. The other Grant recipients who subsequently won the Nobel prize are Carl E. Wieman of the University of Colorado at Boulder and JILA, Steven Chu of the University of California at Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Daniel C. Tsui of Princeton University.
• Summary of NIST Precision Measurement Grants
  [46 kB PDF (Get the Acrobat Viewer)]


• How to apply for a 2009 Grant   (64 kB PDF)