Positioning equipment

This White Paper by MKS Instruments discusses the basic dynamics, performance, advantages and disadvantages of principal design solutions for vibration-isolated platforms.

In photonics motion control applications, how do you combine speed with nanometric precision and unlimited travel? These seemingly conflicting requirements are uniquely addressed by ultrasonic, standing-wave, direct-drive piezoelectric motors. This technology provides unlimited linear or rotary motion of a ceramic tip that transfers drive to a target, operating in a manner similar to a DC servo motor but with much higher resolution, an order-of-magnitude higher speed and a wider dynamic range.

Silicon photodetectors are commonly used for light power measurements in a wide range of applications such as bar-code readers, medical imaging, spectroscopy, and laser printers.  There is another function, however, which utilises the photodetectors as optical position sensors. They are widely referred to as Position Sensing Detectors (PSDs). The applications vary from human eye movement monitoring, 3D modelling of human motion to laser, light source, and mirrors alignment.

Dr Mike Soulby of Pro-Lite explains the physics of the piezoelectric effect, how the inverse piezoelectric effect is employed in precision nanopositioning, and the differences between open and closed loop control of piezoelectric devices.

In many of today’s industrial markets there is a continual push for product miniaturization. The M3 family of piezoelectric motion controllers offer unrivalled compactness helping product designers to achieve more compact solutions. Manufactured by New Scale Technologies, the M3 micro-stages and actuators are the smallest and most precise closed-loop positioning solutions available.