CleanTop® Vibration Cancellation System Provides Structural Damping
For Lidar Installation at Arrival Heights Laboratory in the Antarctic
PEABODY, MA – TMC, an industry leader in advanced vibration cancellation technology, successfully completed its first installation at a research project in the Antarctic. With that installation, TMC, a unit of AMETEK Ultra Precision Technologies, now has vibration cancellation systems installed on all seven continents.
The Antarctic installation involved scientists from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado. Led by Prof. Xinzhao Chu, the team is working on setting up a new STAR Na Doppler lidar system at the Arrival Heights Laboratory.
That lidar system will be used simultaneously with the research team’s existing Fe Boltzmann lidar for atmosphere and space research and utilizes a Spectra-Physics Nd:YAG laser and a Toptica DL-TA-SHG 589 nm laser in tandem. A custom CleanTop® steel honeycomb optical top system from TMC with a unique staggered-hole design was chosen by the team to provide the foundation and support hardware for the lasers. The top provides exceptional flatness, stiffness, damping and thermal stability with a ferromagnetic, stainless steel surface, with a grid of back-sealed tapped holes.
“Our CleanTop system ensures the CIRES team’s complex lidar system has the necessary technical performance, while efficiently utilizing the limited real estate the team has at its disposal at Arrival Heights,” states, Kyle Erlandsen, TMC Application Manager.
The research team commenced final assembly of the lidar system on December 22, 2017. Prof. Chu personally thanked TMC for the support it provided.
Atmospheric research has been conducted at the Arrival Heights laboratory since 1959 because of the location’s unique elevated position and broad viewing horizon of the Antarctic continent.
About CleanTop® Optical Tops
TMC’s CleanTop® family of optical tables is characterized by unmatched levels of structural damping and thermal stability. It features a unique all-steel construction that ensures performance longevity and thermal uniformity.
Combined with TMC’s advanced active and passive support systems, CleanTop provides industry-leading floor vibration cancellation performance. With a wide variety of size, configuration options, and accessories, it addresses the needs of even the most-demanding ultraprecision applications in nanotech, life science and material science.
About TMC
TMC designs and manufactures precision vibration isolation systems for sensitive research and manufacturing processes worldwide. TMC is an ISO 9001:2008-certified company. Its products include active and passive vibration isolation systems; optical tops, optical table systems, and breadboards; laboratory tables and tabletop platforms; floor platforms; magnetic field cancellation and electric field shielding systems; and acoustic enclosures.
TMC is a unit of AMETEK Ultra Precision Technologies, a pioneer in the development of ultra-precision measurement instruments and a global leader in ultra-precise machine tools and manufacturing systems for the semiconductor, photovoltaic, nanotechnology, military, defense and ophthalmic lens markets.
AMETEK Ultra Precision Technologies is a division of AMETEK, Inc., a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with annual sales of approximately $4.0 billion.
For more information, contact Sheryl Aleckna at Technical Manufacturing Corporation, 15 Centennial Drive, Peabody, MA 01960. Tel: 978-532-6330. Fax: 978-531-8682. E-mail: Sheryl.Aleckna@ametek.com