Posted: November 24, 2008

UC Berkeley awarded $11 million for new Center for Integrated Precision and Quantum Measurement

(Nanowerk News) The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced today that it is awarding grants totaling more than $24 million to three universities to provide cost-shared support for the construction of new scientific research facilities. The winning projects were chosen from 93 applicants in a special competition announced last spring.
On of the three awards is a $10.98 million grant to the University of California at Berkeley for the build-out and outfitting of a Center for Integrated Precision and Quantum Measurement (CIPQM), part of a larger project to construct a new building for the school’s physics and astronomy departments.
The CIPQM is intended to provide a state-of-the-art, high-stability, low-noise research facility for precision and quantum-level measurements. Planned research areas include the application of atomically resolved microscopy to operating nanoscale devices to observe dynamic processes and extremely rapid transient events at the nanoscale; quantum nanomechanics, an emerging discipline focused on the measurement and control of mechanical properties of nanostructures; interferometry with ultracold atoms, with applications ranging from basic research on fundamental physics to ultra-high precision gyroscopes and gravitational field detectors; solid-state magnetometers and amplifiers at the quantum limit, a precision measurement field with many applications in physics, earth exploration and medical devices that sense faint magnetic fields; and advanced optical metrology techniques at the nanoscale. These areas strongly complement existing quantum-level research programs at NIST.
The new center will be housed in an underground facility located in New Campbell Hall, a research building scheduled to begin construction on the UC Berkeley campus. The facility will offer a low-vibration environment, low electromagnetic radiation interference, low acoustic noise, and temperature stability unmatched by other facilities at the university. The NIST funding will enable the university to build out the space allocated for the center with critically needed infrastructure.
Source: NIST