RSI Princeton, a branch of Research Support Instruments (RSI) and a wholly owned subsidiary of Physical Sciences Incorporated (PSI), combines plasma physics and materials science expertise to produce new technologies with wide applications.

RSI Princeton Operations specializes in development of new products in microtechnology and plasma physics.

Microtechnology

Microtechnologies developed at RSI Princeton Ops include microfabricated flow sensors, the MASS noise-cancelling microspeaker array, the EMP fiber-optic pressure sensor for hypersonic flight, microscale magnetic structures for actuators and charged particle optics, the MIRROR micro-retroreflector array for marking and communications, the EMESH system for hardware security, electron beam windows, and the M2-EMS compact energy-mass spectrograph for charged particle detection in orbit as well as gas sensing on the ground.

Plasma technology

Plasma technologies at RSI Princeton Ops include the MET microwave electric thruster for spacecraft, a system for microwave augmentation of supersonic combustors, a microwave plasma aerodynamic control system, the MIRAGE ionosphere modification system, the CMTX magnetized target fusion plasma source, and the Rotational-Vibrational Spectral Analysis System for plasma monitoring.

Clients and Partners

Clients have included the Air Force, NASA, NIST, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, the Naval Research Laboratory, and Princeton University.

The Princeton Operations have involved a variety of collaborators, including the Aerospace Corporation, Princeton University, Stanford University, and the Ohio State University.

Facility

The facility includes 900 square feet of laboratory space with a microfabrication clean room, an optics lab, and a main lab with vacuum chambers for electric propulsion testing and plasma physics as well as stations for electronics and mechanical fabrication. Researchers at the Princeton Operations have held guest staff positions at Princeton University's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. Princeton's facilities have been used for various projects, including work at the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) and the Nano/Micro-fabrication Laboratories.

Media

RSI Princeton's development efforts have been featured in these magazine articles:

• "Just over the Horizon," Defense Technology International, Jan/Feb 2006, p 12.
• "Rentree MHD: quand Mars prepare la guerre," Air & Cosmo, March 11, 2005.