Motorized Positioning Solutions for Fiber Alignment

Newport provides a wide range of motorized stages and controllers to perform alignment and metrology of optical fibers and fiber optic components such as planar waveguides, AWGs and fiber collimators as well as completely automated alignment systems. For many applications including automated single-mode fiber alignments, lasers to fibers or wave-guides to fibers alignment, Newport motion systems can be customized to adapt to increasingly complex assembly and metrology demands with the recent renewed growth and technology advances in the fiber-optics industry.

• Automated single or multi mode fibers alignment, laser to fiber or waveguide to fiber alignment
• Silicon Photonics components test and alignment
• Fiber Bragg Gratings, fiber spooling, couplers, optical splitters, switches and modulators
• MEMS-based sensors, WDM and multi-channel waveguides testing

Minimum Incremental Motion (MIM), Bi-directional Repeatability and Accuracy are all important performance characteristics to achieve the maximum performance (i.e. maximum coupling efficiency) during alignment or test process of fiber optics components. Minimum Incremental Motion is the smallest motion a positioning device is capable of reliably moving. MIM is important for achieving good coupling efficiency as the sub-micron level movement in the X or Y-axes is required to align two fibers with minimum coupling loss. Bi-directional repeatability is ultimately important in alignment applications as it measures the system's capability to consistently move to the peak position from some other positions after a scan or some other task such as epoxy delivery. Newport motorized stages provide "guaranteed" performance specifications and help achieve the repeatable, stable alignment for maximum coupling efficiency with minimal setup time.

Auto-alignment system can be configured with motorized stages, XPS motion controller, optical detector, power meter and GBCS auto-alignment software. The automated alignment software is designed to align the fiber components by scanning in XYZ, recording the motion coordinates and the coupling power and then commanding the system to return to the optical peak position. Automated alignment software can be easily customized for specific application needs, providing options to analyze the other optical parameters for the device optimization such as output power, insertion loss, polarization dependence and etc.

Motorized stages, driven by electromagnetic motors, are commonly used in production environments to enable the automation of alignment processes. They typically feature sub-µm MIM and repeatability, which greatly improves the quality and performance of telecom devices assembled using these stages. We at MKS stand by our published motion performance specs. All of the stages that we test meet or exceed the guaranteed specs, and typical performance values are about 2 times better than the guaranteed number.

• XM Series: the ultimate solution for the most demanding manufacturing and test and measurement applications.
• MLT Series: the low profile, high performance solution at an affordable price.
• VP Series: the modular, compact system designed for fiber alignment.
• VP-Z Vertical: povides easy access to load from any direction (lower profile alternative to VP XYZ stack).

	XM Series Linear Stages	MLT Series Linear Stages	VP Series Linear Stages	VP-Z Vertical Stages
Travel Range	50-350 mm	25-250 mm	25 mm	4.8 mm
MIM	1 nm	5 nm	10 or 100 nm	60 nm
Accuracy	±0.2 to ±0.5 µm	±0.3 to ±3 µm	±0.4 to ±0.5 µm	±0.6 µm
Repeatability	±0.03 to ±0.035 µm	±0.15 µm	±0.05 to ±0.06 µm	±0.1 µm
Speed	300 mm/s	500 mm/s	25 mm/s	5 mm/s
Other Features	Ironless Linear Motor	High torque linear motor	Low profile, compact, lightweight	Unobstructed access to the moving platform
Use	✓ High Volume	✓ Low Volume ✓ High Volume	✓ R&D ✓ Limited Automation ✓ Low Volume ✓ High Volume	✓ R&D ✓ Limited Automation ✓ Low Volume ✓ High Volume

A hexapod is a parallel kinematic, mechanical device that uses six actuators, all moving in parallel, to provide six-axis range of motion in a Cartesian coordinate system. All axis moves are interdependent, meaning that the motion in one axis reduces the travel in the other axes. A hexapod is capable of complex combinations of linear and angular motions and is particularly useful for critical rotation adjustments.

• HXP Hexapod: the solution when six degrees of freedom are required.

HXP50 Hexapod	X	Y	Z	ΘX	ΘY	ΘZ
Travel Range	±17 mm	±15 mm	±17 mm	±9°	±8.5°	±18°
MIM	0.1 µm	0.1 µm	0.05 µm	0.05 mdeg	0.05 mdeg	0.1 mdeg
Repeatability	±0.6 µm	±0.6 µm	±0.3 µm	±0.3 mdeg	±0.3 mdeg	±0.6 mdeg
Speed	14 mm/s	12 mm/s	5 mm/s	6°/s	6°/s	15°/s
Other Features	50N load capacity, no moving cables
Use	✓ High Volume

Motion Controllers

XPS-D Series	XPS-RLD Series	ESP302 Series
High performance, complex motion trajectories Up to 8 axes Extensive analog and digital I/O Fiber alignment APIs Best for high and low volume	High performance, complex motion trajectories Up to 4 axes Analog and digital I/O Best for low volume and limited automation	Easy to use Up to 3 axes User-friendly front panel Digital I/O Best for R&D and limited automation