Project 2: Accurate distance sensing for glass capillary fabrication

Glass capillaries are heated and stretched to form elliptically-shaped 
"funnels" to focus and concentrate x-ray beams into micron-sized spots. 
  These small x-ray beams are used to perform micro- and nanoscale 
measurements on a wide range of systems ranging from biological (mapping 
heavy elements within the cells in plant leaves), to computer chip 
fabrications (locating impurity concentrations in semiconductors).

This project will involve working with staff scientists Don Bilderback, 
Rong Huang and Peter Revesz to explore electro-mechanical means to very 
accurately measure the length of the glass capillary as it stretches 
during heating.  Several options include a newly developed video-capture 
measurement system or, alternately, a diode position sensor coupled to a 
linear encoder.

Background material/links:

http://www.chess.cornell.edu/Publications/Brochure/brochure.htm
   ( overview to x-ray science done at CHESS)
http://www.chess.cornell.edu/Publications/Newsletter_1995/puller.html
http://www.chess.cornell.edu/Publications/Newsletter_2000/X-rayImaging.htm
http://www.chess.cornell.edu/Publications/NewsMagazine_2002/NMFromStaff2000.pdf
   (see articles Microfocusing Monocapillary Development...)