David B. Newell

CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical constants: 2006 *

This paper gives the 2006 self-consistent set of values of the basic constants and conversion factors of physics and chemistry recommended by the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) for international use. Further, it describes in detail the adjustment of the values of the constants, including the selection of the final set of input data based on the results of least-squares analyses. The 2006 adjustment takes into account the data considered in the 2002 adjustment as well as the data that became available between 31 December 2002, the closing date of that adjustment, and 31 December 2006, the closing date of the new adjustment. The new data have led to a significant reduction in the uncertainties of many recommended values. The 2006 set replaces the previously recommended 2002 CODATA set and may also be found on the World Wide Web at physics.nist.gov/constants.

Electromechanical properties of graphene drumheads

Straining Suspended Graphene The electronic properties of graphene are best displayed by suspended sheets free from contact with an underlying substrate. Klimov et al. (p. 1557) probed how deformation of suspended graphene sheets could lead to further tuning of its electronic properties with a scanning tunneling microscope; the graphene sheets could also be deformed via an electric field from an underlying electrode. Spectroscopic studies reveal that the induced strain led to charge-carrier localization into spatially confined quantum dots, an effect consistent with the formation of strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields. Mechanical straining of suspended graphene films leads to confinement of charge carriers into quantum dots. We determined the electromechanical properties of a suspended graphene layer by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements, as well as computational simulations of the graphene-membrane mechanics and morphology. A graphene membrane was continuously deformed by controlling the competing interactions with a STM probe tip and the electric field from a back-gate electrode. The probe tip–induced deformation created a localized strain field in the graphene lattice. STS measurements on the deformed suspended graphene display an electronic spectrum completely different from that of graphene supported by a substrate. The spectrum indicates the formation of a spatially confined quantum dot, in agreement with recent predictions of confinement by strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields.

Towards an electronic kilogram: an improved measurement of the Planck constant and electron mass

The electronic kilogram project of NIST has improved the watt balance method to obtain a new determination of the Planck constant h by measuring the ratio of the SI unit of power W to the electrical realization unit W90, based on the conventional values for the Josephson constant KJ−90 and von Klitzing constant RK−90. The value h = 6.626 069 01(34) × 10−34 J s verifies the NIST result from 1998 with a lower combined relative standard uncertainty of 52 nW/W. A value for the electron mass me = 9.109 382 14(47) × 10−31 kg can also be obtained from this result. With uncertainties approaching the limit of those commercially applicable to mass calibrations at the level of 1 kg, an electronically-derived standard for the mass unit kilogram is closer to fruition.

The Fundamental Physical Constants

Incorporating recent data, a new set of recommended values of the basic constants and conversion factors of physics and chemistry has just been issued.

Precision and Accuracy of Thermal Calibration of Atomic Force Microscopy Cantilevers

To have confidence in force measurements made with atomic force microscopes (AFMs), the spring constant of the AFM cantilevers should be known with good precision and accuracy, a topic not yet thoroughly treated in the literature. In this study, we compared the stiffnesses of uncoated tipless uniform rectangular silicon cantilevers among thermal, loading, and geometric calibration methods; loading was done against an artifact from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The artifact was calibrated at NIST using forces that were traceable to the International System of units. The precision and accuracy of the thermal method were found to be 5% and 10%, respectively. Force measurements taken with different cantilevers can now be meaningfully compared.

Review of SI traceable force metrology for instrumented indentation and atomic force microscopy

This paper reviews the current status of small force metrology for quantitative instrumented indentation and atomic force microscopy (AFM), and in particular focuses on new electrical and deadweight standards of force developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These standards provide metrological infrastructure so that users of instrumented indentation and AFM can achieve quantitative nanomechanical testing of materials, engineered surfaces and micro and nanoscale devices in terms of forces that are expressed in internationally accepted units of measure with quantified uncertainty.

Evolution of microscopic localization in graphene in a magnetic field from scattering resonances to quantum dots

The effects of disorder on the electrical characteristics of graphene are found to change drastically in a magnetic field. At zero field, disorder simply causes charge scattering. But at high fields it induces the formation of a network of quantum dots.

Microscopic polarization in bilayer graphene

Its tunable energy bandgap makes bilayer graphene interesting both from a theoretical perspective and with a view to applications. But exactly how the bandgap is formed is still unclear. A scanning tunnelling spectroscopy study now finds that the microscopic picture of the gap is fundamentally different from what is expected from macroscopic measurements and currently developed theories.

Details of the 1998 Watt Balance Experiment Determining the Planck Constant

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) watt balance experiment completed a determination of Planck constant in 1998 with a relative standard uncertainty of 87 × 10−9 (k = 1), concurrently with an upper limit on the drift rate of the SI kilogram mass standard. A number of other fundamental physical constants with uncertainties dominated by this result are also calculated. This paper focuses on the details of the balance apparatus, the measurement and control procedures, and the reference calibrations. The alignment procedures are also described, as is a novel mutual inductance measurement procedure. The analysis summary discusses the data noise sources and estimates for the Type B uncertainty contributions to the uncertainty budget. Much of this detail, some historical progression, and a few recent findings have not been included in previous papers reporting the results of this experiment.

Determination of the Planck constant using a watt balance with a superconducting magnet system at the National Institute of Standards and Technology

For the past two years, measurements have been performed with a watt balance at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to determine the Planck constant. A detailed analysis of these measurements and their uncertainties has led to the value h = 6.626 069 79(30) × 10−34 J s. The relative standard uncertainty is 45 × 10−9. This result is 141 × 10−9 fractionally higher than h90. Here h90 is the conventional value of the Planck constant given by , where KJ-90 and RK-90 denote the conventional values of the Josephson and von Klitzing constants, respectively.