About Our Research and Equipment

Student wearing eye protection looking into interfermometerSt. Cloud State University offers a wide spectrum of innovative research opportunities in physics and astronomy supported by advanced laboratory facilities and specialized faculty expertise. Students and researchers engage in cutting‑edge work spanning computational physics, optics and photonics, materials science, laser ablation, space science, astrophysics, nuclear and health physics, and science education. With access to high‑power lasers, vacuum chambers, imaging tools, spectroscopy systems, and NASA-related instrumentation, the department provides a robust environment for scientific discovery and hands‑on experimentation.

Equipment and Technologies

Equipment and Capabilities

Aerospace

  • 18" spherical HV vacuum chamber (microTorr)
  • 6" CF MV vacuum chamber (milliTorr)
  • 4" CF LV vacuum chamber (Torr)
  • Residual gas analyzer (<200 amu)
  • 120 W 13.56 MHz RF generator and matching network
  • 30 kV benchtop high voltage test stand

Scientific Optics 

  • High-Speed Video (b/w, 150,000 fps)
  • Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy
  • UV-Vis-NIR Spectroscopy (200-1030nm)
  • Fiber optics
  • Interferometry

High Power Lasers

  • 0.5 W, 80 MHz, femtosecond titanium sapphire (rp)
  • 2 W Line-tunable Argon-ion (cw)
  • 2 W Nd:YAG w/ HG (rp 0.1 J/pulse)
  • 10 W RF-excited TEA CO2 (quasi-cw)
  • Nitrogen laser (rp 0.00003 J/pulse)

Materials

  • XRD
  • SEM/EDS
  • Raman Microscopy
  • AFM
  • Confocal Surface Profilometry
  • DSC
  • TGA
  • DLS