This page is a continual work in progress – a place for us to document our past and ongoing projects.

This project was completed in collaboration with CSEP in order to provide education on STEM to high school students. The pieces for the stained glass were cut on the Wazer Waterjet. Below is an excerpt from their website.

What does an experimental physicist actually do? Sure, sometimes we stand and do problems on the chalkboard, but so much of experimental physics research is driven by creative thinking, problem solving, and making things with our hands. In this course we'll explore some of the most common fundamental physics research tools like lasers, magnets, detectors, and how these technologies are harnessed in building things to answer deep questions about the universe. We'll get a taste of how physics experimentalists tackle physics problems, and discover how exercising our creative skills helps us do interesting science. This course will be about physics, but it will also be about art, creative expression, and expanding our physics explorations beyond just calculations and math. We'll spend half of each day learning about modern and relevant topics in experimental quantum and particle physics, and the other half learning how to solder by making our own stained glass art pieces.

Supported by: NSF Quantum Foundry through Q-AMASE-i program # DMR-1906325

Taught by: Madeleine Bow Jun Leibovitch, Ph.D. student in Physics

Because rats develop type 2 diabetes in a similar way to humans, their developmental stages are being researched to see how this can be prevented in human babies. Research has found that the breastfeeding phase is the best time to introduce nutrients that will prevent diabetes.

In order to make the milk-extraction portion easier, we developed a rat milker that will be more comfortable for the rats.

Silane chambers are used to deposit a thin layer of gas-phase silane to serve as a counter adhesion agent for glass or silicone substrates.

This silane chamber was improved from the old one to have a clearer view of how much silane is left and to have clearer instructions.

This Halbach Ring was created for the Physics Department. Halbach rings fixture magnets to create a magnetic field in one direction. It was made by CNC and waterjet cutting aluminum into rings, inserting permanent magnets, and then bolting the rings together.

These prints from the F270 are prototypes of dust covers for a space laser array. These are currently being assembled in preparation for space readiness testing at NASA.

In order to hold a thin disk in place in a wind tunnel while maintaining both adjustability and secureness, we designed a frame.

The music department at UCSB and SBCC reached out to create different instrument mouthpieces through 3D printing. We started off with 3D printing some clarinet mouthpieces with resin and ABS filament at 40% and 100% infill. We found that printing with filament created pieces with poor tolerances and were unable to produce sound, while the resin mouthpiece was usable. For our next steps, we will continue this process with mouthpieces for different instruments and add food-safe epoxy to maximize safety.

Printed replacement drill press chuck key holder

Printed replacement cabinet door latch

The Quantum Foundry within CNSI is working on making nex-gen quantum materials from synthetic diamonds. They do this by blasting the diamonds with electrons.

However, they needed a way to hold their tiny diamond samples at a specific height. So we were tasked with designing and machining a fixture for mounting their samples and positioning them under the electron beam.

While their previous method took several days to fully dose a sample, early testing revealed that this holder allows them to dose their diamonds in a matter of hours.

The Channel Island Marine Sanctuary works to understand and educate the public about our marine ecosystems. One of their groups is on a mission to educate the public about corals and coral reefs. They wanted this curriculum to be tactile and interactive, however coral skeletons are rare and fragile. To overcome this limitation, we partnered with NOAA to 3D print their coral specimens.

corals_gulf.pdf

The ultrasonic bath located in the Bio Nanostructures Lab (BNL) here at CNSI uses a special top-mounting sample holder. This holder ensures that samples are held where ultrasonic intensity is maximized. The original holder was also very fragile. After breaking a 2nd time, we were asked to make a better one.

We measured the important dimensions for the existing holder, then re-designed it to be much stronger and cheaper than the original.

One lab user wanted to make small PDMS domes on glass to serve as “grippers” for 2D materials like graphene. We tried etching patters into glass slides, but they lost transparency and the PDMS wets glass too well to make a standing drop. Instead, we ended up mixing PDMS and dispensing drops directly onto a 180C slide. The cured in a couple minutes into perfect PDMS domes.

The Brookfield Zoo promotes conservation by introducing people to wildlife. One of the zoo’s residents is Layla, a black rhinoceros. Infected sinal tissue made it hard for Layla to breathe. We partnered with Brookfield Zoo and other universities to design and manufacture a surgical stent. Surgeons were able implant the stent and remove infected tissue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDv_NTDPRQw

We use a variety of 3D printers in the Innovation Workshop and the Microfluidics Lab. These include the Ultimaker and Stratasys F270 FDM printers, Form 3 SLA printers, and an Objet 30 Polyjet printer. Here are example projects: