New X-wing to enhance JILA research

April 11, 2012

Boulder, CO--A new wing with advanced laboratories has been opened at JILA, a joint institute of the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The new six-story wing will add 56,065 gross square feet including laboratory space in the basement and first floor.

Conard Holton

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Boulder, CO--A new wing with advanced laboratories has been opened at JILA, a joint institute of the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The new six-story wing will add 56,065 gross square feet including laboratory space in the basement and first floor.

Because highly precise laser experiments require a highly stable environment, the basement laboratories are built on special 2-foot-thick concrete that transmits less vibration than regular concrete. In addition, each of these labs has access to a special hallway with completely separate spring-loaded flooring where pumps and other mechanical equipment can operate without disturbing experiments in the laboratory.

“With the laboratory environment so much better controlled--and I'm talking about vibrations, room temperature, electromagnetic noise, more stable cooling water and power, everything--our researchers can concentrate on what really matters, the experiments themselves,” said Nobel laureate Eric Cornell, chair of JILA. “Everything we could do in the old labs, we’ll be able to do a little, maybe a lot, better in the new labs.”

NIST contributed $22.5 million and CU-Boulder contributed $10.2 million to the $32.7 million project. CU’s portion came from dollars from indirect cost recovery or other sources restricted to research facilities. The growing number of JILA graduate students was one reason behind the need for more space. The number of graduate students at JILA in 2000, 69, has grown to 104 today, along with 57 postdoctoral researchers and 94 scientists and support staff.

JILA will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding this summer and the last previous expansion of its facilities opened during its 25th anniversary in 1987. With the new wing, JILA now totals 162,959 gross square feet.

SOURCE: JILA

About the Author

Conard Holton | Editor at Large

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.