With high speed performance for both long travel and nanometre to micron range incremental moves, Nanomotion's motorised Z-Axis Auto Focus Stage provides a complete vertical positioning and focussing solution for automated microscope and imaging applications.
Available exclusively in the UK from Heason Technology, the compact stage is easily adapted to standard or custom microscope mechanics and is available with a wide range of matching servo drives and motion controls.
The Z Axis Auto Focus Stage assembly combines Nanomotion's unique standing wave, inverse piezoelectric ceramic motor technology and a high resolution encoder in a miniature but robust translation stage housing with integral precision bearings and a spring counterbalance.
The zero backlash, direct-drive stage features a travel range to 25mm, selectable standard resolution from 10nm to 100nm(with one nm optional), a wide dynamic speed range (up to 250mm/second) and static loading to 400g.
Nanomotion's ceramic servo motor technology suits the demands of high-speed move and settle positioning required by microscope focussing applications, providing a typical focussing move of one to 10µm in under five milliseconds, settling within 100nm. Ultra fast settling times and the inherent ability to lock the stage's position at rest and under power-of conditions ensures excellent levels of optical stability with minimal thermal drift.
Typical applications for the Z Axis Auto Focus Stage include managing the demanding high speeds, accelerations and positioning reversals in cell terrain imaging, semiconductor and biomedical microscopy, and on-the-fly focusing. The stage may also be used in a horizontal orientation for step and repeat imaging.