Would you like to have a brief overview of PTB as a whole, find out more about PTB's history or about one particular division of PTB? Then the 6-page PTB Info Sheets are just right for you. You can order them free of charge or download them as pdf files.
PTB Info Sheet: "PTB - the National Metrology Institute of Germany" (613 kB) Accurately? Yes, accurately! But higher accuracy is always possible.The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) tries to achieve this. PTB is the National Metrology Institute of Germany with scientific and technical service tasks. It measures with the highest accuracy and reliability – metrology as the core competence.PTB Info Sheet: "Division 1: Mechanics and Acoustics" (641 kB) How heavy, how strong, how fast, how loud? Division 1 is your reference for the precision measurement of mechanic and acoustic quantities. In addition to basic research, the main task of this Division is to supply services, i. e. calibrations in the field of industrial metrology and type tests in the field of legal metrology. PTB Info Sheet: "Division 2: Electricity"" (789 kB) Electric measurements are of a multidisciplinary nature. In almost all industrial, technical and scientific fields, in medicine as well as in environmental and climate observation, non-electric measurands are transformed into electric quantities. This is the reason why electric measurements play a key role in metrology.PTB Info Sheet: "Division 4: Optics" (495 kB) What time is it? How long is one metre? How is luminous intensity
measured? But also: What is the colour, power or spatial distribution of a light-emitting diode? How strong is a laser, or how smooth is a mirror? How is optical quality measured and how are atoms counted? These and many other questions are dealt with by the Optics Division, because they
can be answered very precisely with the aid of modern optical methods.PTB Info Sheet: "Division 5: Precision Engineering" (615 kB) In many important technical branches of industry, length measuring techniques provide the basis for a stable and sustainable production. Here, the
traceability of such measurements to the unit “metre” is a precondition for globally distributed manufacturing, because it guarantees that everywhere
on earth, the same measure is valid. Quality systems are based on this proof of an uninterrupted metrological chain which reaches up to the national standards at its top of the hierarchy.PTB Info Sheet: "Divison 7: Temperature and Synchroton Radiation" (1.2 MB) Temperature is not only a base quantity, but actually also one of the most frequently measured physical quantities. In addition to thermometry, metrology with synchrotron radiation in the wide range from terahertz to X-rays is a second central task of Division 7. Moreover, it deals with fundamental and applied questions of radiometry and vacuum metrology as well as with thermal energy measurements.PTB Info Sheet: "Division 8: Medical Physics and Metrological Information Technology" (741 kB) Developing measuring methods and measuring procedures in medicine
is one major task of Division 8. Furthermore, the other is information
technology – from mathematical modelling and software testing to the approval of gaming and voting machines.