Advanced Instrumentation

AIR Team

Advanced Instrumentation for Research (AIR) Division supports every area of SLAC science, from particle physics and detection of the cosmic microwave background to x-ray light sources. AIR specializes in integrated instrumentation capabilities from sensors to Application Specific Integrated Circuits to Data Acquisition (DAQ) and software with an overarching systems design emphasis. Instrumentation R&D supports specialized requirements for important scientific instruments and experiments, such as LCLS and LCLS-II, the ATLAS upgrade for the Large Hadron Collider  (LHC), Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Stage IV experiments, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), and the next Enriched Xenon Observatory (nEXO). In addition to supporting these projects, AIR provides services and solutions to commercial entities as well as to other U.S. Government agencies.

Services and Solutions

AIR has broad expertise in detector and instrument creation:

  • Sensor design and fabrication
  • Integrated circuit design
  • Micro packaging and interconnects
  • Advanced analog & digital electronics
  • Low-level RF electronics
  • Data acquisition, software
  • Large-scale system integration

Push all corners of the envelope:                                            

  • High Speed
  • Low power
  • High channel counts
  • Small foot-print
  • Large degree of integration
  • Radiation hardness
  • Advanced data movement and handling