Measurement rate: 20 minutes for 5000 instruments.
BCAM Starter Pack Version (SPA1) The SPA1 is available to purchase and contains everything you need to get up and running with our Boston CCD Angle Monitors System. Starter parks are examples, your order is not restricted by the contents of the starter pack.
Research Applications:
Thousands of our opto-electronic alignment devices have been deployed in dozens of particle accelerators and detectors all around the world. Our data acquisition software provides numerous image analysis algorithms to support these devices, as well as tools for managing data acquisition from very large systems.
Particle Detectors for HEP: The BCAM, along with our data acquisition system, was originally designed for use in the particle detectors of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN). These cameras are still used at CERN today. Learn more about the use of our BCAMs at CERN here.
Particle Accelorators for HEP: The double-ended H-BCAM was developed for the alignment of the HIE-ISOLDE accelerator at CERN, and are now being deployed in the alignment system of the PIP-II accelerator at Fermilab. The WPS was deployed in test stands at CERN as part of their development of the CLIC accelerator proposal.
Fiber Positioners for Astronomy: We are working in collaboration with the Astronomical Instrumentation Laboratory at Texas A&M University (TAMU) to design and build a telescope-mounting fiber positioner for astronomical multi-object spectrography. We have designed the Direct Fiber Positioner System, which equips optical guide fibers and detector fibers in conjunctionpiezeo-electric tubes, in order to deduce the location of celestial objects. In October of 2024, we mounted our first model, the DFPS-4A, onto the Otto-Struve Telescope at the McDonald Observatory. Learn more about our work at the observatory and subsequent successful spectrograph collection on the DFPS page.
Optical Alignment Devices
Boston CCD Angle Monitor (BCAM): Survey cameras and point sources for monitoring deformations of large structures. These instruments provide 5-μrad precision and 50-μrad absolute accuracy of bearing measurement with respect to their kinematic mounts. We manufacture several types of BCAM as well stand-alone light sources and long cables for permanently-installed, high-precisions, optical alignment systems.
Wire Position Sensor (WPS): A stereo camera and flat background for measuring the position of a black, stretched line with 5-μm absolute accuracy in a ±5 mm field of view. This instrument is designed for the alignment of components along a linear particle accelerator path.
Direct Fiber Position System (DFPS): A pair of cameras watch the guide fibers on the tips of the fiber positioner masts and so measure the position of these masts with respect to fiducial light sources on the positioner frame. The cameras are short-range BCAMs that we call Fiber View Cameras (FVCs).
Contactless Position Measurement System (CPMS): A stereo camera with illuminated, infrared background panels that measures the position of highly-reflecting components by combining silhouette images with knowledge of the object's geometry. The cameras are similar to BCAMs, but designed for silhouette images. We call them SCAMs.
