DIAGNOSTICS · INSTRUMENTATION · VACUUM
Diagnostic design and consulting, measurement instrumentATION, vacuum system design, and service for fusion and high-energy plasma experiments. Run from Madison, Wisconsin, by a working plasma physicist.
WHAT WE DO
01
Consulting
Plasma diagnostics specified, designed, and fielded — from optical layout and detector selection through timing, acquisition, and analysis. Measurement campaigns taken from first light to published data.
02
Products
Current monitors, signal conditioning, controls, and timing built to the FLI catalog. Factory-calibrated, NIST-traceable, documented. Standard units and custom front-ends quoted against your build schedule.
03
Rebuilding & resale
Turbomolecular, rotary vane, scroll, and diffusion pumps rebuilt, tested, and warranted. Used scientific vacuum equipment acquired, restored to spec, and resold. PFPE-fluid systems kept on PFPE.
HOW WE WORK
Our diagnostic systems are designed by someone who has designed them, fielded them on operational magnetic confinement fusion devices, and published the results. Vacuum equipment is rebuilt and serviced by someone who uses it daily. We don't just have big ideas — our products are backed by years of experience in the field.
Four Lakes Instruments is a small shop on purpose. You talk to the engineer who specs the optics, writes the acquisition code, and turns the wrench on the pump — not a sales desk that routes your question somewhere else.
That means honest answers about what a measurement can and can't resolve, what a rebuild will and won't recover, and what a job actually costs. Quotes come with the reasoning behind them. Every instrument ships with documentation and a calibration record. Every rebuild ships tested.
PEER-REVIEWED WORK ·
Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 67 045011 (2025) DOI: 10.1088/1361-6587/adbc1f
Rev. Sci. Instrum. 95, 093507 (2024) DOI: 10.1063/5.0219569
Rev. Sci. Instrum. 93, 093518 (2022) DOI: 10.1063/5.0101879
Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 105001 (2019) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.105001
Magnetic Confinemnet Fusion (MCF) · Thomson Scattering · Interferometry · Reflectometry · Physical Probes · Wall Conditioning
GET IN TOUCH
Whether it's a diagnostic you need designed, an instrument you need built, or a pump that needs rebuilding — describe it and you'll get a real reply from the person who'd do the work.
Pick a channel, give us the shape of the problem, and we'll come back with questions, a path forward, or a quote.
Your message is in. You'll hear back from the engineer who'd handle this within two business days.
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