Spring-flexures have been touted as the best design method for ultra-precise positioning, but they are inherently susceptible to vibrational disturbances. Their low natural frequency makes them extremely sensitive to everyday lab activities - even walking or talking could disturb your experimental measurements. Touching a flexure component or the optical table can cause changes in the stage position, causing large variations in the output signal. This sensitivity can make fine manual adjustment difficult or sometimes impossible and forces the use of more expensive motion control systems.

Crossed roller bearings, when optimally pre-loaded, are not as susceptible to vibration, giving the ULTRAlign™ far greater stability and stiffness than positioners with flexure designs. With the precision and stability made possible by crossed roller bearing construction, in many cases manual micrometers can be substituted for piezoelectric actuators without degrading positioning performance.

ULTRAlign™ XYZ stages come in mirror-image right and left-hand versions. This permits all micrometers to be located on the same side, so there's never a need to reach over your work to make adjustments on the opposite side. It also means you have more flexibility in how you lay out your experiment on the table. All adjustments can be made with the hand resting on the table for maximum comfort, added stability, and increased sensitivity.