PI (Physik Instrumente) LP will exhibit its M-686 low-profile XY open-frame piezomotor stages, designed for automated-positioning applications in inspection and microscopy. The stages provide speeds to 100 mm/sec and response times in the millisecond range.

A compact C-866 PILine piezoelectric linear motor/controller and high-resolution linear encoders make both the leadscrew/duct and flanged, bulky stepper motor used in traditional stages obsolete, PI said. The controller achieves very short settling times at up to 400 mm/s.

The M-686 stages may be operated in closed-loop, w/ 0.1-µm-resolution linear encoders, and have a large clear aperture (78 x 78 mm). They are compact, with a 27-mm (height only) profile and 150X150 footprint, have a long travel range (25 x 25 mm), stable -- self-locking at rest -- and flexible, PI said. For ultrahigh resolution applications, they can be combined with nanopositioning/scanning stages, and a number of piezonanopositioning systems can be mounted in the XY motor stage.

The stages are available as fast, XY scanners (for fluorescence microscopy), as Z positioners (3-D imaging) or with up to siz axes.

Start a discussion on this article or any photonics topic in the Photonics.com Community Forum