--- title: 2026 Frikkin Lasers Challenge: Measuring Nanometer-Scale... description: Timothy Giles built a 3D-printed optical cavity using two semi-transparent mirrors to detect nanometer-scale displacements. One mirror is mounted on a speaker... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/2026-frikkin-lasers-challenge-measuring-nanometer-scale-displacements-with-an-optical-cavity-wiiahohrs twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 2026 Frikkin Lasers Challenge: Measuring Nanometer-Scale Displacements With An Optical Cavity | daily.dev og:description: Timothy Giles built a 3D-printed optical cavity using two semi-transparent mirrors to detect nanometer-scale displacements. One mirror is mounted on a speaker... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/2026-frikkin-lasers-challenge-measuring-nanometer-scale-displacements-with-an-optical-cavity-wiiahohrs og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/wiIAhOhRS.png og:image:alt: 2026 Frikkin Lasers Challenge: Measuring Nanometer-Scale Displacements With An Optical Cavity og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 2026 Frikkin Lasers Challenge: Measuring Nanometer-Scale Displacements With An Optical Cavity **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Timothy Giles built a 3D-printed optical cavity using two semi-transparent mirrors to detect nanometer-scale displacements. One mirror is mounted on a speaker diaphragm acting as a linear actuator, while a fiber-coupled laser diode shines through the other. By counting brightness peaks caused by constructive and destructive interference as the cavity length changes, the system measures the diaphragm's displacement. The setup also revealed laser diode wavelength instability during warm-up, visible as cycling brightness patterns at a fixed cavity length. A webcam monitoring a paper target aids in mirror alignment. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Building A Micrometer-Level Displacement Sensor With 3D Printed Parts](https://daily.dev/posts/building-a-micrometer-level-displacement-sensor-with-3d-printed-parts-7iz43nink) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Infleqtion, Honeywell and UCSB Develop Chip-Scale Optical Cavity](https://daily.dev/posts/infleqtion-honeywell-and-ucsb-develop-chip-scale-optical-cavity-0f6eahjj4) · The Quantum Insider · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [New photonic device efficiently beams light into free space](https://daily.dev/posts/new-photonic-device-efficiently-beams-light-into-free-space-ukxgdz30w) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Congratulations To The Frikkin Laser Winners\!](https://daily.dev/posts/congratulations-to-the-frikkin-laser-winners--lahf8ul4l) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Robotic lab sets up and runs optics experiments on demand](https://daily.dev/posts/robotic-lab-sets-up-and-runs-optics-experiments-on-demand-2usto3skc) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/2026-frikkin-lasers-challenge-measuring-nanometer-scale-displacements-with-an-optical-cavity-wiiahohrs) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"2026 Frikkin Lasers Challenge: Measuring Nanometer-Scale Displacements With An Optical Cavity","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2026-frikkin-lasers-challenge-measuring-nanometer-scale-displacements-with-an-optical-cavity-wiiahohrs","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/2026-frikkin-lasers-challenge-measuring-nanometer-scale-displacements-with-an-optical-cavity-wiiahohrs"},"datePublished":"2026-07-27T02:28:44.748Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T08:21:42.342Z","description":"Timothy Giles built a 3D-printed optical cavity using two semi-transparent mirrors to detect nanometer-scale displacements. 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