DEVELOPMENTS AT NIST Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a number of new devices and methods involving a variety of technologies. In certain cases other parties have participated in the development of these technologies. NIST may enter into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with interested parties to perform further research on the invention for purposes of commercialization. NIST may grant CRADA Partners an option to negotiate for exclusive licenses to any jointly owned inventions which arise from the CRADA as well as an option to negotiate for exclusive royalty-bearing licenses for NIST employee inventions which arise from the CRADA. Anyone interested in the further development of any of these should send a written request for further information, referencing the NIST Docket Number and Title, to: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Industrial Partnerships Program, Building 820, Room 213, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899; Telecopy: 301-869-2751. This is not an announcement of a contract action or a grant. NIST DOCKET NUMBER: 98-021PA, Title: Asymmetric Multilayer X-Ray Mirror, Description: A multilayer structure on a uniformly faceted substrate such as a blazed diffraction grating takes on compression/expansion properties similar to those of asymmetrically cut crystal optics to compress or expand an x-ray beam. The invention is comprised of a grating enhanced multilayer, where the multilayer nominally comprises 10 layer pairs of a 5 nm bilayer built up on each angled plateau of a grating. Each bilayer deposited on each plateau is arranged to be registered with adjacent bilayers. This yields the multilayer equivalent of a beam compressor/expander. The invention is expected to find applications in thin firm x-ray analysis and, especially, crystallographic studies of proteins, where the high x-ray intensities and large beam divergences made possible by the invention are uniquely desirable WEB: NIST Contracts Homepage, http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/contract.htm. E-MAIL: NIST Contracts Office, Contract@nist.gov. Posted 10/19/98 (W-SN263114).

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