Just Add Lasers

Most times, our partners require a tool that we’ve made many, many times before. They are looking to do some thin-film research, and they trust us as the experts in designing and manufacturing the perfect tool for the type of work they’ll be doing. Sometimes, things aren’t quite so cut and dry. When Jim Oliver approached us with what he needed, we quickly realized this was something that had never been done before.

Jim Oliver is a researcher at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester, New York. In order to further his research in optics (with end goals that involve implosions in the pursuit of fusion energy, among other things), he needed a deposition stage that could move translationally on the x and y axes, could rotate, but could also move significantly on the tilt axis, allowing for reliably deposited, extremely unique films on large substrates that had never been achieved before.

A technician from Angstrom Engineering working on the prototype stage.

The new Stage in the deposition chamber, ready for its first runs.

“My initial specification bordered on the ridiculous,” explains Oliver, “you come in with what you would like, and then backtrack to reality.”
Because Angstrom Engineering has a lot of experience working with stages that involved all of these axes in motion, it made sense to create this with us.

John Spaulding, seen below integrating the stage into the vacuum chamber, worked on the project as well: “The technician at Angstrom always got back to us within a day, and would often already be working on something for us before 7am. It shows some dedication. The president, Dave Pitts, has been incredibly responsive to our needs. For being the president of a company, he’s been dealing with process changes, design changes, equipment changes….unexpected things came up, and he went above and beyond.”

“We’re very, very pleased,” says Spaulding, “any time we’ve had a question throughout the entire process, the team at Angstrom has been very accommodating, and the end result satisfied everyone’s needs.”

The team at the LLE in Rochester is now using the stage to create its coatings. As they make headway in their research, we’ll be sure to share more about it.

Optical Manufacturing Process Engineer, John Spaulding (left), and coating operator, Justin Foster, are shown installing an optic on a the prototype stage, designed and built by Angstrom Engineering.

Having arrived in Brazil, our partner’s logistics team takes the lead, taking it out of the wooden box so that it can fit through the door of the facility. The journey resulted in the standard small bumps and dents that are categorized and logged so that our installation team can quickly and effectively get the system up and running, which they do.

Finally, all that’s left to do is to fabricate some superconducting circuits, and further the field of quantum computing. Our partners at Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF) expressed their excitement at having gained the capabilities  of partnering with us in this translated LinkedIn post:

 

It is with great enthusiasm that we announce the arrival of the newest equipment, from Angstrom Engineering, to the Quantum Technologies Laboratory of CBPF. This laboratory is complementary to Labnano, one of the strategic laboratories of SisNANO – the National System of Nanotechnology Laboratories of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI).

SisNANO is comprised of a set of laboratories focused on research, development and innovation (RD&I) in nanosciences and nanotechnologies, with the essential characteristic of being multi-user and open access to public and private institutions.

Acquired with funding from Finep and support from MCTI, the new equipment will allow CBPF to advance in the manufacture of superconducting quantum nanodevices, such as Josephson junctions and SQUIDS. These devices are essential for the development of future quantum chips, which promise to transform areas such as computing, secure communication and metrology.

The impact of this advance is also connected to related projects funded by FAPERJ, CNPq and Petrobras, consolidating a robust research ecosystem in Brazil.

This achievement reinforces the commitment of CBPF and MCTI to leading the frontier of scientific research, contributing to enabling the country to compete in a global scenario marked by disruptive and strategic advances.

We would like to thank the institutions involved and the professionals who made this achievement possible. We invite the scientific, technological and industrial community to closely monitor the transformative results that this new infrastructure will provide.