The Space Nanotechnology Laboratory (SNL) is located in the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI). The SNL, along with our companion laboratory, the NanoStructures Laboratory (NSL), is a member of the Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL), a consortium of campus microfabrication facilities with shared interests.
Our expertise is in the fields of nanofabrication, nanometer-accuracy x-ray optics fabrication, assembly and metrology, ultra-high resolution lithography, nanometrology, and nano-accuracy diffraction grating fabrication.
The SNL maintains active collaborations with groups in the Departments of Mechanical, Electrical, Aero/Astro Engineering, and Physics and is interested in expanding these contacts.
The SNL is the premier laboratory in the world for research in interference lithography and diffraction grating fabrication. Our laboratory developed the world’s most advanced grating patterning tool, the Nanoruler, which has a precision of well under 3 nanometers.