title: Note: Fast compact laser shutter using a direct current motor and three-dimensional printing.
abstract: We present a mechanical laser shutter design that utilizes a direct current electric motor to rotate a blade which blocks and unblocks a light beam. The blade and the main body of the shutter are modeled with computer aided design (CAD) and are produced by 3D printing. Rubber flaps are used to limit the blade's range of motion, reducing vibrations and preventing undesirable blade oscillations. At its nominal operating voltage, the shutter achieves a switching speed of (1.22 ± 0.02) m/s with 1 ms activation delay and 10 μs jitter in its timing performance. The shutter design is simple, easy to replicate, and highly reliable, showing no failure or degradation in performance over more than 10(8) cycles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Grace H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Braverman
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Vladan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vuletić