• Academics        
  • + Academics Page
  • + Graduate program
  • + Undergraduate program
  • + Master of Arts in Physics Education (MAPE)
  • + Course listings
  •    - Fall
  •    - Spring
  • + Lou’s List
  • + Lecture Demo
• Research      
  • + Research fields
  •    - Experimental Atomic, Molecular, & Optical
  •    - Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
  •    - Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics
  •    - Experimental Nuclear Physics
  •    - Theoretical Nuclear Physics
  •    - Experimental High Energy Physics
  •    - Theoretical High Energy Physics
  •    - Medical & Biological Physics
  • + Departmental Resources
  • + Other Resources for Researchers
• People     
  • + People Page
  • + Faculty
  • + Affiliated Faculty
  • + Emeritus Faculty
  • + Senior Research Staff
  • + Research Associates
  • + Graduate Students
  • + Undergraduate Students
  •    - Society of Physics Students
  • + Staff
  • + Committees
  • + Job Opportunities
• Announcements          
  • + Seminars and Announcements
  • + This Week’s Seminars
  • + Department News
  • + Departmental Newsletter
  • + Events
  •    - Physics Day
  • + Society of Physics Students
  • + Job Opportunities

The Technical Services Facility (TSF) is made up of the Machine Shop, Electronics Shop, and the Computer Facility. The TSF primarily serves the Physics and Chemistry Departments and their tasks have precedence, but other UVa programs are invited to take advantage of some of the unique abilities of the facility.

Machine Shop [Request Help]

The machine shop has a staff of two full time machinists and spans eight rooms (3,760 sq. ft.), including a “Student” or “User” shop available to Physics and Chemistry researchers who have completed our shop course. The machine shop equipment suite includes nine mills (some with digital readout and CNC), eleven lathes (two CNC), numerous drill presses, grinders, shapers, and wood working tools.

Of special note is the welding shop (featuring MIG, TIG, and Oxy-Acetylene welding systems) and its demonstrated expertise in the welding of aluminum and stainless steel high vacuum systems. Staff are available (on a limited basis) to make “house calls” for field testing of systems with their portable helium leak checker (standard rates apply).

In addition to making instruments for Physics and Chemistry research, the machine shop is often called upon to build equipment for other University programs. Such jobs range from making devices for medical research to crafting hardware for Facilities Management to building the frame for a solar race car designed by Engineering School students.

Services are billed to UVa accounts at $56.00 per hour. To arrange to have work done, please email the shop (Physics-Machine-Shop@Virginia.EDU) or call 434-924-6567.

Electronics Shop [Request Help]

The electronics shop has a full time Electronics Engineer and an Electronics Technician skilled in laboratory instrument construction and repair. Please see the Electronic Shop Wiki for more information.

Design services are billed to UVa accounts at $91.00 per hour. Technician services are billed to UVa accounts at $56.00 per hour.

To request electronics support, please email Phys-Electronics@Virginia.EDU or call 434-982-5594.

Computer Support

The computer support team includes a full time Computer Systems Senior Engineer and a full time Programmer/Analyst. In addition to providing support for standard workstations, they develop and manage our computer and network infrastructure. They can also help develop and manage research systems (data acquisition and analysis).

We maintain a semi-public microcomputer lab, containing PCs and X-Terminals, available to Physics students, staff and faculty. We also use computers for data acquisition and analysis in many of our teaching labs. Other departmental computer resources include a Beowulf-class supercomputing cluster and various other Linux and Windows servers (including this web server). Individual research groups own a wide variety of systems including other Beowulf clusters, Linux, UNIX and Mac OS workstations and servers, as well as many PCs, X-Terminals and Macintoshes.

Computer support services are billed to UVa accounts at $59.00 per hour. Due to the level of demand from Physics users, computer support is not usually available for “outside” work.

For more information regarding Physics department resources, please contact the Physics Department's Director of Laboratories, Rick Marshall.