**NIST on a Chip (NOAC) Program Supports Industry Growth**
The NIST on a Chip (NOAC) program is shrinking measurement technologies to bring them out of the lab and into industries. This has led to the creation of companies like Apex Atomics, Mesa Quantum, and QuSpin that are using NOAC innovations for various applications.
**Key Developments:**
– **Apex Atomics**: Licensed NIST’s patent on alkali metal vapor cells for clocks and sensors in defense, aerospace, medical, finance, and manufacturing industries.
– **Mesa Quantum**: Built upon NIST’s foundational IP for chip-scale atomic clocks with proprietary innovations for next-generation quantum timing systems.
– **QuSpin**: Used NIST’s public domain intellectual property for compact optical atomic magnetometers in noninvasive brain imaging and ultrasensitive geophysical surveying.
**Potential Impact:**
These companies aim to improve sensor longevity, reliability, performance, manufacturability integration real-world deployment. The potential impact includes:
* Resilient alternatives to GPS
* Improved healthcare through noninvasive brain imaging
* Enhanced geophysical surveying
**Implementation Timeframes:**
While specific implementation timeframes are not mentioned in the article; it can be inferred that these developments will have significant impacts over several years as they continue advancing their R&D efforts.
In simplified language:
Think of NOAC as taking advanced laboratory technologies from large machines down to tiny chips so they can be used by various industries more easily. Companies like Apex Atomics are making use of this technology by improving sensors’ longevity while others such as Mesa Quantum focus on bringing quantum timing systems closer towards commercialization.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/noac/spinoff-companies
Keywords: atomic clocks, chip-scale, metrology
