Vendor List
From DoyleGroup
See Usernames for a list of logins to some of these vendors.
Also check out ThomasNet or Direct Industry for a searchable vendor list.
Don't forget about the Black List
Thanks to Stan Cotreau and the DeMille group for helping us to put this together.
Contents
- 1 Buyers guides
- 2 Ablation target preparation and testing
- 3 Radiation equipment
- 4 Chemicals and materials
- 5 Adhesives and Glues
- 6 Ceramics
- 7 Metals
- 8 Magnet Wire
- 9 Machining/Welding/Fabrication/Etc.
- 10 Plastics and Composites
- 11 Hardware/Machining Supplies/Fasteners
- 12 Razor Blades
- 13 Optics
- 14 Laser Diodes
- 15 PMT
- 16 Electronics
- 17 Vacuum
- 18 Cryogenics
- 19 Gases and Flow Control
- 20 Quasi-Optical, Microwaves
- 21 mm-wave Microwave Components
- 22 Optical detectors, PMTs
- 23 Coatings, deposition
- 24 Electroplating
- 25 Diamond-Turned Optics
- 26 Actuators and Motion Control
- 27 Vibration Isolation
- 28 Waterjet
- 29 Computers and Computer Hardware
- 30 Office Supplies
- 31 Food, etc
- 32 Black List
Buyers guides
- Physics Today Buyers Guide
- CERN Courier Buyer's Guide
- ThomasNet - Extensive vendor search engine
- Octopart - Electronic components data sheets and price search
Ablation target preparation and testing
- Applied Test Systems - high-end materials testing and furnaces
- Futek - Load cells and other sensors
- MTI Corporation - relatively inexpensive materials science research supplies (furnaces, temp. controllers, crucibles, gloveboxes, benchtop presses, diamond blade saws, ball mills, nanopowders...); equipment seems generally reliable though cheap. Technical support is of little help.
- Renco Corporation - sells a wide variety of glovebox gloves, but they're a little laggy on responding to quote requests.
- Sigma-Aldrich - also sells a lot of glovebox gloves and sleeves, and as a "Harvard Marketplace" company, they're very convenient and relatively cheap to order from on HCOM
- Thermo Scientific - general lab supplies, including furnaces (Please see this note before considering buying from them, though!)
Radiation equipment
- For radiation inspection, non-emergency cleanup, and radiation labels and waste bins, contact Ken Walker at first_last@harvard.edu.
- Atlantic Nuclear - radiation safety: shielding, radiation meters, dosimetry
- Ludlum Measurements - exhaustive assortment of survey meters
- Canberra - radiation measurement and safety supplies, including radioisotope samples
Chemicals and materials
- Alfa aesar - chemical supplier
- American Elements -- pretty much the whole periodic table, but don't get too excited - they don't carry a lot of what they list.
- Plasmaterials
- Process Materials
- Refrac systems - Diffusion bonding, hot-pressing
- MP Biomedicals - Cheapest thorium metal powder ever, while supplies last...
- Fisher Scientific
- Sigma Aldrich
- Strem Chemical
- Spectrum Chemical
- VWR
- Pfaltz and Bauer
Ablation targets
- American Elements -- CaF ablation targets
- Sophisticated Alloys - Order-made targets. They can handle pretty much everything, but the lead time is long.
- Materion
Adhesives and Glues
- EMI UV - Fancy UV curing epoxy, low expansion and UHV (Optocast 3410 Gen2)
Ceramics
See also: #Chemicals_and_materials
- McMaster
- Cercom Ceramics
- CoorsTek ceramic tubes etc.
- Kyocera - expensive
- Marketech - will do almost anything, but take ~1 week to send quotes
- Orton Ceramics - supplier for hobby or industrial ceramic making, carries pyrometric cones
- Progressive Technology - ceramic tubes etc.
- Stratamet - will do small custom jobs. Talk to Mark Wesson. Tell him Sarah (Bickman, ex-DeMille group) sent you.
- Zircar Zirconia - refractory ceramics in various forms, mainly alumina and zirconia; also some furnaces
- Technical Products - Large selection of ceramics and plastics. Great selection of Macor.
- Astro Met
- Morgan Technical Ceramics
- Cadence Inc., formerly Specialty Blades, has a large selection of fancy razor blades, including ceramics.
Metals
See also: #Chemicals_and_materials
- ESPI - expensive, but has everything
- Goodfellow - metric, crazy expensive
- Rembar- Good for Tantalum, Tungsten etc
- Surepure Chemetals - Precious metals and wire in many sizes, cheap
- Hagstoz - Gold and precious metals, usually cheap
- Refining Systems - Gold and precious metals
- Hauser and Miller - Even cheaper gold and precious metals
- Allfoils - "UHV Aluminum Foil"
- Sophisticated alloys
- Parker Steel - Metric metals (not just steel). Tell Gary Bartlett that Stan sent you.
- Copper.org Data on copper alloy compositions
- Copper and brass sales - THE copper and brass supplier. Doesn't always sell small quantities. Ask for Jeremy Jennings, First.last@thyssenkrupp.com
- Sequoia Copper and Brass - Cheap copper and brass. Sells small quantities at reasonable prices, but might take a while.
- Online Metals - Good selection, fast shipping, reasonable prices on most things. DO NOT BUY COPPER HERE... the price is inflated by a factor of 2-3 compared to Sequoia or Copper and Brass. You can order online with a PO, use account username: jacob@cua.harvard.edu pwd: usual. Just enter PO number when asked for payment information.
- McMaster - Good selection, reasonable prices. Don't buy if you really need a specific alloy of a metal, since they never provide any sort of material certification.
- Brunner Enterprises - Good source for anodized aluminum.
- Turner Steel - Steel
- Ed Fagan - Invar, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Tantalum, Nickel
- Admiral Metals - Aluminum, S.S., brass, beryllium, copper
- Yarde Metals - Large diameter tubes
- Tube Service - Large diameter tubes
- T.W. Metals - Tubing, aluminum, stainless, nickel
- Southern Aluminum Finishing - Aluminum sales; will do custom anodizing for good prices.
- Rebel Metals - Aluminum and stainless. Steve approved.
- Everest Metals - Copper, aluminum, stainless. Steve approved.
- Cooner Wire Flexible heat links - (we use NER7710836B-OFE specifically request Cu10100 with certs)
Magnet Wire
- Liljedahl Winding Wire - Used by Greiner, Innsbruck groups
- Insist on desired weight to be wound on a single spool for both of these suppliers
- Small Tube Products - raw tubing
- S & W Wire Company - insulator
Machining/Welding/Fabrication/Etc.
- NewCut - Photo etch machining, up to 80 mils thick, very tight tolerances, quick turn-around.
- Ramsay Welding - Can do aluminum welding. Has Stan's seal of approval.
- Protolabs - Lukin Group recommended
- Plethora - Also recommended by Lukin group, might give you a credit if you are a new customer.
- Harvard SEAS Shops - SEAS shops
- Shenzhen Tuofa - Custom CNC parts, dirt cheap, within spec, but long-ish lead time (2-4 weeks). The Ni lab has used them and they are really shockingly cheap, ~$60 total price (machining + material + shipping) for some reasonably complex three piece DBR housings.
Solder and Braze
- Lucas Milhaupt - Large selection of braze and solder
- Indalloy - Low temperature indium solder
Plastics and Composites
- McMaster
- Technical Products - Large selection of ceramics and plastics.
- Curbell Plastics
- Patriot Plastics
- C.S. Hyde - Tapes, Films, Fabrics & Silicone. Kapton film.
Hardware/Machining Supplies/Fasteners
- McMaster
- MSC - When McMaster just won't do
- Vlier - Screws with Springs inside and more.
- Air Incorporated - 80/20 supplier. Phone: 800-341-2800. Best to have the cut numbers and location codes (from an 80/20 catalog) ready for any anchor fastener counterboring, etc., before you call.
- Amazing Magnets - Permanent magnets
- K&J Magnetics - Large selection of rare-earth magnets.
- Olander - Helicoils, including phosphor bronze and other specialty materials. Don't bother with the website, just call with a part number and tell them the material.
- Before ordering, it helps to have a part number from a helicoil manufacturer, such as Chrislynn Inserts or Emhart Teknologies. If you need non-magnetic helicoils quickly, MSC sells titanium helicoils in many common sizes.
- Solon Manufacturing Belleville spring washers in specialty materials, including phosphor bronze
- United Titanium Titanium fasteners
- Mutual screw Brass (C260) and silicon bronze fasteners
- Cold Headers Inc. Brass and Stainless Steel socket cap screws. Cheaper than McMaser (about factor of 2). Responds and ships fast.
- E&T Fasteners PEEK screws and other exotic plastics. Can even get them vented!
- Accurate Fasteners Local fastener distributor
- Century Spring All manner of springs, including non-magnetic, unusual materials, and custom
- J I Morris - Great selection of small screws and nuts, lots of stock
- Seastrom Manufacturing - Great selection of washers, many sizes and materials.
- Product Components Corporation - Plastic fasteners. Untested
Razor Blades
- Cadence Inc., formerly Specialty Blades, has a large selection of razor blades in all shapes and materials.
Optics
Essentials
- Thorlabs
- CVI
- New Focus
- Newport - Excellent damage threshold for price
- Alpine Research Optics - Harmonic separators & other optics w/ great specs and low prices. Speak with Mike Ellison.
- Casix - dirt cheap, long lead times?
- conoptics - Isolators
- Edmund optics sales@edmundoptics.com
- Optosigma - windows
- Esco Products-unusually fast and inexpensive for custom optics jobs, proven reliable. Also good selection of stock optics, especially cheap windows, lenses, etc
- Optotune - Electrically tunable lenses
- Dorotek - Optics company for mirrors, etc ...
- Red Optronics - Custom/volume optics. Large orders of standard things like mirrors can be <1/2 the price of standard optics places. Notoriously hard to get a hold of. Nick learned about this vendor from a member of the Greiner group who misremembered the name as "Red Optics," which is a pornography website. Boy was that confusing.
- New Rise Optics - Red Optronics' new name.
- FocTek - Custom/volume optics. Potentially dirt cheap, but be sure to check that the optics meet spec when you get them...
- Laser Mill - Hyde Park, Vermont. Ni Lab source for used optics breadboards.
Frequency-Doubling Crystals
- United Crystals (Very cheap, but make sure the order confirmation matches exactly your email request)
- Newlight Photonics (Canada)
- Castech
- Eksma Optics
- HC Photonics (Check with Ni Group, seems to not be as good as covesion)
- Oxide Corp (Produces High Power Visible/Green compatible crystals, check with Greiner Group)
- Doehrer Optics (Germany)
- Covesion MgO:PPLN crystals, SHG, SFG and OPO crystals (7W+ with no damage, just replace the plastic front cover with a metal one)
Acousto-Optic and Electro-Optic Modulators
- NEOS - AOMs
- Intraaction - AOMs
- Brimrose AOMs
- EO Space Fiber phase modulators (electro-optic modulators), with V_pi as low as ~ 5 V !
- Advr Inc. Electro-optic modulators
- Newport Electro-optic modulators
- Gooch and Housego AOMs
Fiber optics
- Fiberoptic Systems - Custom fiber optic bundles, including high vacuum, non-ferrous, high NA. Great prices.
- OFR - fiber optics and isolators
- NSG America all-glass GRIN fiber collimators
- Fiber Optics Store - Various fiber optics supplies. Sells fiber-coupled laser pointers for cheap, which are very useful for aligning coupling/collimating lenses.
Specialty
- Rocky Mountain Instruments - custom coatings, custom lenses, UV specialists, fast service
- Research Electro Optics - High end optics
- Advanced Thin Films - custom jobs
- Tower Optical - waveplates
- EO tech - Isolators
- PI action - CCD cameras
- Semrock - Filters + MaxMirror
- Intor - cheap interference filters
- Uniblitz - shutters
- Andover - colored glass filters
- Omega - stock + custom interference filters
- Coherent - Tell them you want the 'Family Discount' & Get 20% Off all laser measurement products. For problems contact service manager: rose.medina@coherent.com (408) 764-4426
- OFR - fiber optics and isolators
- Technical Glass - Quartz rods, discs, tubes, etc.
- St. Gobain Crystals - custom crystalline optics
- Standa - mostly optomechanics
- Expla - laser systems, OPOs, some components
- Optometrics - diffraction gratings
- Argyle Optics - custom stuff might be cheap but standard optics are also custom made = expensive
- Vere Optics lab accessories
- Tempotec- Chinese Company...like Casix or casix affiliate?
- Mightex - CCD cameras
- Siskiyou - Unusual optomechanics: top-drive flexures & stages, etc.
- Optical fiber fault checker
- Laser Components - Both custom and stocked cavity mirrors
- Photonic Cleaning Optics cleaning supplies for astronomy, including 'First Contact' goop.
- Laser SOS Flashlamps, filters, parts for Minilite/Surelite, YAG lasers.
- Nihon Tokushu Kogaku Jushi Fresnel lenses up to f/0.2
- Fresnel Tech Custom and specialty Fresnel lenses
- Custom Scientific Flats, windows, fibers and coatings. They made the EDM field plates: 18" x 8", < 5 lambda flat with conducting & AR coatings.
- Thin Film Labs Custom AR coating, other kinds of wacky coatings, *extremely fast* turnaround. Yale recommended.
- LayerTec Cheap yet good quality cavity mirrors
- Apogee Instruments Low-noise CCD cameras
- Electrophysics Objective lenses for C-mount cameras/imagers
- Radiant Dyes - They make dye lasers, service old Coherent dye lasers (including 899) and new Sirah dye lasers, build economical opto-mechanics, and have excellent service!
- Holo Spectra - 899 parts
- Laser Innovations - 899 parts
- MPB Communications Inc. Yb fiber laser (seed) + Raman fiber amplifier system at 1030-1340 nm; also capable of 515-670 nm with SHG module; ~Watt level power
- Dorotek Makes good mirrors and has excellent service.
- Chroma Filters - Stock and custom filters.
Laser Safety
- Laser Safety Industries - great selection of laser goggles. Call and ask for an academic discount.
- Laservision - great selection of laser goggles. Call and ask for an academic discount.
- Kentek - lots of laser goggles, IR viewers, IR/UV cards, proportional IR wands, burn paper...
Laser Diodes
- Prophtonix - Re-seller of diodes - go here first! They stock lots of manufacturers and are often deeply discounted. See here.
- Sacher
- Eagleyard - AR coated laser diodes
- Roither Lasertechnik - Laser diodes, LEDs, Optics,
- Toptica - Lasers, AR Coated Diodes
- Intelite/Meshtel - Non-AR Coated Diodes, Sacher gets some of their diodes here before AR Coating
- Power Technology - Single Mode Diodes, TAs, DFBs and more
- m2K - Tapered Amplifiers and More
- FLT Laser - Huge selection including DFBs from many suppliers in addition to their own line
- Nanoplus - DFBs
- RPMCLasers - Single Mode diodes and more, not AR
- Intenseco - I think only Multimode / Broad Area
- qPhotonics - Single Mode Laser diodes and more. 895-915 nm and 1050-1080 nm diodes are offered with AR coating (for $300-400)
- Axcel Photonics - Common NIR Laser Diodes
- Wavelength Electronics - Cheap and convenient current & temperature controllers.
- Oclaro (formerly Bookham) - High power (>600mW) 980nm pump laser modules, fiber coupled.
- EM4, Inc. - High power (600mW) 980nm pump laser modules, fiber coupled.
- Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH) - Custom-made high-brightness sources (e.g. RW, DFB, DBR, tapered, tapered with integrated gratings) near 630 nm
- Innolume - High power IR diodes.
PMT
Hamamatsu PMT contact Rich at (908) 252-7728 Fax: (732) 537-3678
Electronics
- Octopart - Electronic components data sheets and price search
- Mouser Electronics
- Digikey
- Analog Devices
- Apex Microtechnologies - High Voltage/Power Op-Amps
- Lansing Instruments - Really Nice Enclosures
- Emco High Voltage - DC-DC Converters
- Allied Electronics
- L-Com - Cheap connectors/adaptors
- Powell Electronics - Hard to find/out of stock stuff
- Meritronics - Board Assembly
- Pasternack - Quality BNC cables
- Acopian - Supreme power supplies
- Krohn-Hite Ultra-precise DC sources & other precision stuff
- Phoenix of Chicago Good selection of connectors. Non-magnetic D-sub connectors.
- FCT Non-magnetic connectors of all sorts.
- Souriau Non-magnetic D-sub connectors with crimp contacts.
- Proto-advantage SMT to DIP adapters
- Microconnex Flexible circuits
- Air Electro - Connectors, including Detoronics
- ISEG HV High-Voltage Modules
- Advanced Circuits Routing PCB boards. $33 dollars for 1 board with two layers (min. quantity 4). 1 week turn around.
- Barth Electronics
- Systems Engineering Services - Local company that will assemble electronics boards. Jim-approved.
RF Electronics
- Mini-Circuits
- EM Power RF RF Amplifiers
- Werlatone RF Electronics
Sensors
- Micromagnetics Magnetoresistance-based B-field sensors
- Honeywell Anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) magnetic sensors. Noise is < 1 uG/rt-Hz @ 10 Hz. ~20$ each.
- Stefan Mayer Fluxgate Magnetometers, Magnetic Field Sensors, Magnetic Field Compensation Systems and Magnetic Permeability Meters
Vacuum
- Manuals from lots of companies for lots of old pumps & controllers
Essentials
- LDS Vacuum Shopper - fast + cheap. This should be your first stop for vacuum stuff!
- Accu-Glass Products - Vacuum connectivity products, most UHV: feedthroughs, epoxy, uhv wiring, burst discs.
- Duniway stockroom Cheap, good selection of used vacuum equipment
- Huntington They carry electrically insulating teflon KF clamps and centering rings.
- Kurt J. Lesker
- MDC
- A & N Corp - Feedthroughs, flanges etc. These guys have the right Quick-Disconnect (Ultra-Torr) fittings for liquid helium dewars.
- Cambridge Valve & Fitting - Distributor for Swagelok. To get prices from the Swagelok website, see Usernames.
- Nor-Cal Products - Now part of Pfeiffer Vacuum
Specialty
- InstruTech - Makes compact, digital convectron and ion gauges at good prices.
- AVS Technical Resources - Useful calculator for conversion factors, pump/gauge ranges
- Varian (Now part of Agilent) High quality dry scroll and turbo pumps at competitive prices. Now a division of Agilent. Contact alan.bird at agilent.com or call 1-800-8VARIAN.
- Precision Cryo Ask for Dick Gummer. They made the EDM beam source chamber.
- Kimball physics - special (cool) chambers
- Sharon - custom chambers
- Key High
- vacuum generators Best quality UHV all-metal valves.
- Insulator Seal - Feedthroughs
- Apiezon Greases and Waxes
- EVAC Vacuum - Unique! Standard QF/ISO hardware, but made out of glass(!), aluminum, etc.
- accuglass products - Unusually nice selection of feedthroughs, in-vacuum electrical connectors, hardware, etc. Prices better than Lesker.
- MPF Products - Similar to accuglass for electrical feedthroughs, but also has nice selection of viewports
- Atlas UHV - UHV grade welded aluminum vacuum chambers. Made the EDM interaction chamber.
- Heating Tapes
- Minco heaters Foil heaters with kapton & copper, non-magnetic
- All Foils UHV clean aluminum foil
- Pfeiffer Vacuum
- Air Electro - Connectors, including Detoronics (vacuum compatible electrical feedthroughs)
Vacuum Pump repair
- Vacuum works- Paul Finestone. HullVac pump repairs 267-252-5572
Cryogenics
- Cryodepot
- Cryofab
- Janis
- Lakeshore Cryotronics Contact Dave Shain: shaininc AT comcast.net
- Oxford Instruments
- Cryomech - Pulse tube coolers.
- H and J Enterprises - Helium Flex Lines and Aeroquip fittings and adapters.
- Calgon Carbon - Activated charcoal for Sorbs
- discountcryo - Great selection of cryo accessories, including small hand dewars.
- Metalized Products - Superinsulation (NRC-2)
Gases and Flow Control
- MKS Instruments - Flow controllers. To get a login to see prices, go to Usernames.
- Laminar Technologies - Sells used MKS flow controllers. The Harvard cleanroom manager (Noah Clay) claims that used flow controllers are better (since they are screened for infant death), and of course they are cheaper.
Quasi-Optical, Microwaves
mm-wave Microwave Components
- Quinstar - Large selection of waveguide and coax, ask for Sage Kuno
- Miteq - Largest supplier (and stock) but more expensive
- Penn Engineering - Raw waveguide stock, flanges
- Atwall - Raw waveguide stock, flanges
- UBS - Raw waveguide stock, flanges
Optical detectors, PMTs
- Electron Tubes
- Burle
- Hamamatsu
- RoentDek - Makes MCPs and readout electronics
- DelMar Photonics - MCP
- Beam Imaging - MCP directly coupled to a camera through a fiberoptic rod.
- Primer on MCPs
Coatings, deposition
- AIMCAL - Assoc. of Metallizers, Coaters & Laminators FAQ
- Spectrum coatings>
- Helia Photonics - Ion-assisted deposition
- Ionedge - Ion-assisted deposition
- Thin Films Inc. - Sputtering, Evaporation, Lithography - flexible small shop
- Thin Film Labs - specialize in optical component coatings
- Koral Labs - thin film deposition + vacuum furnace stuff
- IJ Research - ceramics, deposition, lithography - flexible, associated with USCB, IIRC
- Sophisticated alloys - deposition targets, but "we don't do coatings"
- Process Materials
- Sputtering target suppliers
Electroplating
- Paramount Metal Finishing - Rack Electroplating - reasonable prices
- AMZ Manufacturing - High quality electroplating
- Metal Finishing Technologies - Various plating services
- Epner Technology - Fancy gold electroplating - expensive, high-tech
Diamond-Turned Optics
- II-VI Infrared - good CO2 optics; possibly worst url ever
- Corning NetOptix - used to be OFC Diamond Turning
- Kugler - German precision optics company, ja
- Kaleido Technology - in Denmark
Actuators and Motion Control
- Newmark Systems
- Arrick Robotics
- Parker Hannfin Motion Control
- Cyber Research Motion Control
- Techno Linear Motion Systems
- Velmex Low cost, large travel motorized stages
- Aerotech - Precision stages
- Noliac - Large selection of piezos, including rings
- Micromechatronics - Re-seller for Noliac, other piezos.
Vibration Isolation
- EAR Specialty Composites ==> Jan's smelly Blue Stuff = #6309-0026
Waterjet
- Barton Mines Garnet abrasive for the waterjet. Details here.
- OMAX Waterjets, and supplies. Details here
Computers and Computer Hardware
- Dell Go to www.computers.harvard.edu, and select Dell departmental purchase. You will have to register; use your fas.harvard.edu email. Configure your computer (you can get any system, or a "Harvard standard" system). When checking out you will have to select a shipping address - be careful, if you select "17 Oxford St" from the dropdown list it will probably have somebody else's name attached to it. If this is your first time ordering this way, you will have to manually enter the address with your name as the recipient. For future purchases, find the "17 Oxford St" entry with your name as the recipient. Choose "pay with credit terms". The same warning about the drop-down list applies for the payment address; be sure to select the "Jefferson Business Ofc" or something like that; if you select other addresses with "Jefferson" in the name it will go to somebody else (for example a secretary in the HETG).
- Dell's Harvard Pricing WARNING: they are not necessarily cheaper than dell.com
- NewEgg Computer accessories. WARNING: they do not accept POs.
- Lenovo Harvard Pricing Departmental and Personal
- For CDW order, send PO to Mecca Nnacheta meccnna@cdw.com
Office Supplies
- Office Depot Fax 800-685-5010
- B&H - HCOM marketplace vendor with lots of office supplies, including printer cartridges of all descriptions
Food, etc
Black List
Think twice before buying from these vendors.