Piezo Focusing Stages

Piezo stages for microscopy objectives   

nPoint Microscope Focusing Stages   

Enabling autofocus in a microscopy application will require a piezo actuated stage for mounting the microscope objective. nPoint offer the nPFocus range of such systems to provide accurate, fast, and repeatable motion for life scientists.

The nPFocus range includes microscope objective scanners with 100, 250, 400 or 1000 micron ranges. Engineered for such motion critical applications, nPoint nanopositioning systems use a unique design to ensure high resonant frequencies yet minimised orthogonality and cross-talk errors.

With a choice of either strain gauge or capacitive feedback sensors within the stage, nPoint ensures superb motion linearity and positioning accuracy. Coupled with the dedicated 400 series DSP controllers, the nPFocus stages can be easily optimised with regard to piezo system response times and flexibility of programming for specific applications.

nPFocus Models	nPFocus100	nPFocus250	nPFocus400	nPFocus1000
Footprint (mm)	63.5 x 50	63.5 x 50	65.2 x 53.5	64.54 x 77
Height (mm)	33.5	33.5	47	40
Body Material	Mixed†		Stainless Steel	Mixed†
Maximum Load (kg)	0.8
Max Push/Pull Force (N)	100/10	100/10	100/10	20/10
Stage Mass (kg)	0.2	0.21	0.27	0.49
Closed-loop Travel (µm)	100	250	400	1000
Open-loop Travel* (µm)	40	100	130	400
Integrated Sensor	Capacitive  or  Strain Gauge	Capacitive  or  Strain Gauge	Capacitive  or  Strain Gauge	Capacitive
Position Noise (nm)	0.3  or  3	0.7  or  5	2.5  or  7	5
Linearity Deviation (%)	0.01  or  0.02	0.02  or  0.02	0.01  or  0.02	0.02
Stiffness (N/µm)	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1
Resonant Freq. (kHz)	0.45	0.3	0.22	0.135
Settling Time (ms)	10	15	20	25
Capacitance (µF)	1.3	2.6	3.8	17.8
Controller	LC.400
Notes	* Open-loop Travel operating at -30 to 150 V † Mixed materials are aluminium and stainless steel

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