Photonic Applications

Guiding and Shaping Light With Piezo Solutions

The photonics industry has one of the greatest needs for piezo controlled actuators. Within this industry, piezo actuators precisely control light by guiding it, switching it, shuttering it and tracking it. Through the use of tip-tilt stages, shuttering products, ring actuators, and fiber switches, many industries, universities and other research facilities are able to use lasers and other light beams for scientific discovery and for business.

Tip-Tilt Stages: By attaching mirrors to our PSH and PKS tip/tilt stages, lasers or other light forms can be focused and/or patterned according to customer needs. Applicable applications include: Laser Material Processing, Image Scanning, LIDAR, and Optical Inter-satellite Links.

Shuttering Actuators: Our PZS-series of slit actuators can be used to collimate, shape, and shutter lasers beams. Applicable applications include: Synchrotron, and X-ray Collimation.

Beam Shuttering in an X-Ray Collimator

Ring Actuators: Ring actuators serve a variety of purposes within the photonics industries. These actuators, with their center apertures, allow light to pass through while providing actuation to lenses or surrounding mechanical systems. Applicable Applications include: Interferometry, and Atomic Force Microscopes.

Fiber Switches: Piezo-based optical fiber switches can provide up to 9 outputs from a single input fiber. Additionally, fiber switches can be combined in series to provide an even greater number of output channels. Applicable Applications include : Spectroscopy, Brain Cell Stimulation, Telecommunication

There are also unique photonic applications for piezo actuators. For example, in biology a laser beam is often used for cell stimulation. A laser is redirected onto two mirrors and then directed to the cells. An important requirement for this process is to hold the beam on the cell, and this is often difficult because of thermal and vibration influences. In a system like this two piezo steered mirrors (Fast Steering Mirrors) and two position-sensitive 4-quadrant diodes are used. The mirrors adjust the laser beam in any direction defined by the 4-quadrant diodes – all within milliseconds.

Whitepaper: Beyond Microscopy – MIPOS in Industry Applications

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