What's Here for You:

Vibration Isolation News is designed to keep our customers and friends up to date on the latest products and applications designed to facilitate better measurements and improved nanomanufacturing. We are an OEM supplier to leading manufacturers of scanning probe microscopes, micro-hardness testers and other sensitive instruments, and we have users at more than 200 leading universities and private and government laboratories in 50 countries.

INDEX


1. Minus K Educational Giveaway - Get your college a superior vibration isolator


2. Featured Application: Negative-Stiffness Vibration Isolation Improves Laser Interferometry Performance in Precision Surface Engineering


3. Upcoming Nanotechnology Meetings and Webinars


4 . We want to hear from YOU

Minus K Technology currently builds
vibration isolators to handle payloads from
3
lbs to 10,000 lbs (per isolator).


When you need the best isolation for your dollar.
Our patented technology will provide you true 1/2 Hz performance.

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Minus K's Education Giveaway

 

Minus K Continues Educational Giveaway

Minus K has again launched their educational giveaway for their negative-stiffness vibration isolators for colleges/univerities within the United States.

Any college/university within the United States, that has an AFM, Electron Microscope, Interferometer, Laser Optical System, Micro Hardness Tester, or any other special equipment that would benefit from a low-frequency vibration isolator can apply. No purchase necessary.

The submission forms will be judged by the Educational Giveaway Committee on multiple catagories.Limited to one submission per college department. Submission deadline for applications is February 29, 2016.

The selected college departments will be notified by March 31, 2016 and posted on Minus K's website.
A new FREE Minus K vibration isolator will be shipped within one month of notification.

Minus K will conduct a brief interview with the selected departments six months after receiving their isolator. The interviews will be used to learn how vibration isolator helped with the application goals and interview may be used for articles in industry publications.

Congratulations to the education giveaway winners:

Purdue University – Chemistry Department
Vibration isolator for use with their custom-built scanning tunneling microscope (STM). 
(The major research thrust of their group is the design of custom scanning probe instrumentation that provides structural resolution within single molecules at the sub-nanometer scale.)


Willamette
 University - Physics Department
Vibration isolator for use to frequency down-conversion of 846 nm light to 423 nm light in a home-built bow-tie cavity using a BiBO nonlinear crystal. The 423 nm light will be used to cool and trap calcium atoms. (The long term goal of this project is the generation of ultracold dipolar dimers consisting of one rubidium and one calcium atom. One exciting application of these molecules is their potential use in quantum computation.) 

Full information available on our website at www.minusk.com/content/edgiveaway.html



  • Negative-Stiffness Vibration Isolation Improves Laser Interferometry Performance in Precision Surface Engineering

    Excerpted from Commerical Micro Manufacturing International - Septeber 2015

    In manufacturing, CMMs are used to test a part or assembly against the design intent. By precisely recording the X, Y, and 2 coordinates of the target, points are generated which can then be analyzed for the construction of features. These points are collected by using a probe that is positioned, in this circumstance via direct computer control (DCC), DCC CMMs can be programmed to repeatedly measure identical parts. Hence, CMMs are a specialized form of industrial robot.

    Vibration Isolation Critical
    These high-throughput CMM laser interferometry surface measurement systems, however, can be negatively affected by plant low-frequency vibrations. which can distort the interferometry measurements and deliver inaccurate readings.

    One of these CMM systems, custom-designed and manufactured for specific applications by Arnold Gauge Company, has resolved the vibration issue. The company's CMM system maintains its precision high throughput by integrating a unique, highly-compact Negative-Stiff ness vibration isolation platform.

    "Every second, the laser in the CMM is generating about 2,000 readings per second," said Michael Bruins, President of Arnold Gauge Company. "These readings, taken at the micron level, are displayed on a chart, plotted against the pre-engineered ideal surface.

    Due to these micro tolerances, any vibrations, whatsoever, on the plant floor, such as from forklifts, for example, are going to be detected in the readings, and will negate the validity of the results. To counteract these vibrations, we selected Negative-Stiffness vibration isolation.

    Laser-based interferometers are extremely sensitive devices that are capable of resolving nanometer scale motions and features. They often have very long mechanical paths which makes them even more sensitive to vibrations. The sophisticated modern ellipsometry techniques that allow this high performance rely on low noise to be able to detect fringe movement. Properly isolating an interferometer will allow it to provide the highest possible resolution.

    improved AFM performance. One of these advances has expanded the AFM ability to image biological samples in an aqueous buffer and provide a range of physical data for the sample.  Another has increased the imaging speed of AFMs. Unlike Scanning Electron Microscopes, which are capable of scanning in near real-time, conventional AFMs, prior to about five years ago, required between one and 100 minutes to obtain a high-resolution image. With the introduction of high-speed AFM systems, imaging speeds are three orders of magnitude faster than with previous AFMs.

    The full article can be found at: https://minusk.com/content/in-the-news/Comm_Micro_Manu_0915.html

    The demo video of this installation can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tD61gk2ylY

    Comments/Suggestions: Applications in New Fields or Features of Interest to You in Our Next Newsletter:

    Upcoming Meetings and Webinars:

    Meeting: Sponsor: Dates: Location:
    International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN)
    Australian Nanotechnology Network (ANN) Feb. 7, 2016 -
    Feb. 11, 2016
    Canberra, Australia
    http://www.ausnano.net/iconn2016/
     
    Photonics West 2016
    SPIE, Visit the Minus K Booth #4437 at this exhibit Feb. 16, 2016 -
    Feb. 18, 2016
    San Francisco , CA
    http://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-west?WT.svl=mddce6
     
    Biophysical Society 60th Annual Meeting 2016
    Biophysical Society, Visit the Minus K Booth #714 Feb. 27, 2016 -
    Mar. 2, 2016
    Los Angeles , CA
    https://www.biophysics.org/2016meeting/Main/tabid/6230/Default.aspx
     
    International Conference on Nanobiotechnology (ICNB'16)
    International ASET Inc Apr. 1, 2016 -
    Apr. 2, 2016
    Prague, Czech Republic
    http://nbconference.com/
     
    BIO International Convention 2016
    Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Visit the Minus K Booth #5875 Jun. 6, 2016 -
    Jun. 9, 2016
    San Francisco , CA
    http://convention.bio.org/2016/
     
    Optics and Photonics 2016
    SPIE, Visit the Minus K Booth #217 Aug. 30, 2016 -
    Sep. 1, 2016
    San Diego, CA
    http://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/optics-and-photonics/exhibition
     


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    Tell us if you have had a great experience with our isolators. Work with us on an article about how negative-stiffness has helped you. Don't be shy. Share your application with our readers.

    Do you have an application in a New Field? What applications are of Interest to You?

    Email us at newsletter@minusk.com

     

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