Minus K Technology’s U.S. Educational Giveaway has granted over $125,000 of its superior performing patented passive mechanical Negative-Stiffness low-frequency vibration isolators since 2014.
This year Minus K congratulates the following winners for the 2025/2026 giveaway:
University of Texas at Dallas – Physics Department
The vibration isolator will be used for experiments identifying and assembling stacked two-dimensional heterostructures for quantum transport and scanning tunneling microscopy studies.
University of Pittsburgh – Physics and Astronomy Department
The vibration isolator will be used for experiments with their quantum twisting microscope inside an acoustical chamber.
Northwestern University – Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
The isolator will be used with a diamagnetically levitated optical cavity experiment to develop an ultra-high-Q mechanical oscillator without clamping losses.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign – Physics Department
The isolator will used to support a Fully Motorized 2D Transfer System in an MBraun glovebox used to fabricate van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures, by stacking atomically thin layers – such as Graphene, hBN, and TMDs – to create specific moiré superlattices.
Illinois Wesleyan University – Physics Department
The isolator will be for experiments with Spin noise measurements in GaAs quasi-1D semiconductor mesowires or measurements of thermal conduction of MX3 mesowires with a Michelson interferometer.
Northwestern University – Applied Physics Department
The isolator will assist in experiments by supporting a precision laser frequency stabilization setup based on the Pound–Drever–Hall (PDH) locking technique.
“Minus K believes that assisting research at the college level is essential for the continued advancements within all disciplines.”, says Minus K’s President Steve Varma, “It is a great feeling to help all these colleges with their research. We are always interested in seeing what applications and how the isolators will be used.”
Minus K® Technology, Inc. was founded in 1993 to develop, manufacture and market state-of-the-art vibration isolation products based on the company’s patented negative-stiffness-mechanism technology. Minus K products are used in a broad spectrum of applications including nanotechnology, biological and neuro sciences, quantum computing/research, semiconductors, materials research, zero-g simulation of spacecraft, and high-end audio. The company is an OEM supplier to leading manufactures of scanning probe microscopes, micro-hardness testers and other vibration-sensitive instruments and equipment.
Minus K customers include private companies and more than 300 leading universities and government laboratories in 53 countries.
