Piezo Stage Systems by Mad City Labs
Piezo stage is the common name for a nanopositioner. Piezoelectric actuators are used to move these stages with the goal of high precision, nanometer-scale positioning. Although the actuators often suffer from hysterisis and creep, Mad City Labs regulates these imperfections by use of high resolution sensors in the stages. With this technology, the piezo stages can achieve consistent, sub-nanometer accuracy. For further information and explanation about nanopositioning accuracy, see the technical information page and the article Understanding Noise at the Nanometer Scale.Mad City Labs' piezo stages offer solutions for a broad range of demanding applications. Although the products highlighted here are especially well suited for microscopy and biological research, their versatile design and exceptional performance make them a wise choice for any application requiring high speed, high accuracy motion in the z-axis direction.The advantages of using a piezo stage in biological imaging is discussed in the following Biophotonics article.
The primary biological application for piezo stages such as the Nano-Z100 is in z image reconstruction. This involves the aquisition of images along the z axis compiled into a z stack, which can then be used to create a three dimensional image.To create this type of image, the user needs a microscope, camera, piezo stage for manipulating the sample, and image aquisition software. For more information on software, see the Mad City Labs Software page. The Mad City Labs USB interface is compatible with the above mentioned Metamorph software. For a list of microscope manufactuars, see the Resource page. Mad City Labs piezo stages are easily retro-fitted to most standard inverted optical microscopes.
Optimal for this type of research are the Nano-Z Series and the Nano-Z500. The Nano-Z500 is ultra long range with motion up to 500 μm, while still maintaining a low profile and easily retrofitted design. The Nano-Z Series still offers long range capabilities with a choice of 100 or 200 μm of motion. With the options and versatility provided by these piezo stages, Mad City Labs can offer solutions for a broad range of research and commercial needs. Already integrated into microscope automation packages and widely distributed, the z-axis piezo stages by Mad City Labs are essential instrumentation for both industry and research.