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Precision Engineering Research (PERL) Laboratory

Professor Thomas Bifano
8 St. Mary's Street, Rm 712
Phone: 617/353-5619

Researchers concentrate on creating a basic science and technology to enable sensing, control, and fabrication at the limits of achievable precision, as well as the application of this technology in design of novel devices and systems. Areas of interest include nanometer scale actuation, micromachining, design of high precision mechanical or optical systems, and development of processing strategies for nanometer-scale manufacturing. Application areas include fabricating ceramic mirrors, developing micro-electro-mechanical arrays for precision optical systems, fabricating optical and magnetic storage devices, and basic studies of the transition between plastic flow and fracture in machining brittle materials. The laboratory is equipped with two ultraprecision grinding machines, ultraprecision instrumentation for sensing and actuation systems, a high-speed dynamic measuring interferometer, piezoelectric actuators/amplifiers, a neutralion machining system, and a microelctro-mechanical device test bed. Support facilities include vibration isolation tables, air and water temperature controllers, and a modular cleanroom station.