THORLABS MPZ601 User manual

a dvanced p ositioning t echnology
PIEZOELECTRIC CONTROL MODULE
Model Number MPZ601

THORLABS
About the Company
Thorlabs has been an active member of the Photonics community for over 15 years.
We strive to be the ultimate resource for the photonics community-a place to find the
products you need to enable your experiments, as well as the information you need to get
your application working.
Thorlabs designs, develops, and manufactures building blocks for the photonics industry
including equipment for opto-mechanics, motion control, nano-positioning, alignment,
optical components, laser diodes, tunable lasers and vibration isolation systems. In
addition to core photonics building blocks, we now provide system level solutions
including complete OCT and imaging systems.
Trademarks
Windows is a trademark of Microsoft
Corporation.
ActiveX is a trademark of Microsoft
Corporation.
Visual Basic is a trademark of Microsoft
Corporation.
LabVIEW is a trademark of National
Instruments Corporation.
THORLABS is a registered trademark of
Thorlabs Inc.
Revision History
Product Warranty
Opto-Electronics, Control Electronics,
Optics, and Nano-Positioning Product
Lines.
Thorlabs offers a two year warranty on the
above mentioned product lines, provided
normal use and maintenance of the
products and when properly handled and
correctly installed.
Thorlabs shall repair or replace any
defective or nonconforming product as
detailed above. We ask that buyer contact
Thorlabs for a Return Material
Authorization number (RMA #) from our
Customer Service/Returns department in
order to most efficiently process the return
and/or repair.
Products returned for repair that are not
covered under warranty, a Thorlabs
standard repair charge shall be applicable
in addition to all shipping expenses. This
repair charge will be quoted to the
customer before the work is performed.
Issue Date Summary
1 161204 Initial Issue
2 100909 Method Summary

1
Contents
1 For Your Safety ......................................................................................... 3
Safety Information ..........................................................................................................3
Warnings ........................................................................................................................4
Declarations Of Conformity ............................................................................................4
For Customers in Europe .......................................................................................4
For Customers In The USA ....................................................................................4
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive .......................................5
Compliance ............................................................................................................5
Waste treatment on your own responsibility ..........................................................6
Ecological background ...........................................................................................6
2 Overview .................................................................................................... 7
APT Rack System Description .......................................................................................7
Introduction ............................................................................................................7
Building Larger Scale Systems ..............................................................................7
Ease of Use ...........................................................................................................8
Software .........................................................................................................................9
Background ............................................................................................................9
APT Server (ActiveX Controls) ..............................................................................9
APT User.exe .......................................................................................................11
APT Config Utility .................................................................................................12
Piezo Controller Description .........................................................................................13
Introduction ..........................................................................................................13
Easy to Use Software ..........................................................................................13
Easily Configured Closed-Loop Operation ...........................................................13
Open Architecture ................................................................................................14
A Complete Motion Control Solution ....................................................................14
Rear Panel Connections ..............................................................................................15
3 Principles of Operation ........................................................................... 16
Piezoelectric Controller .................................................................................................16
The Piezoelectric Effect .......................................................................................16
Hysteresis ............................................................................................................17
Position Sensing and Feedback Control ..............................................................17
continued...

2
4 Operation .................................................................................................19
Manual Operation ......................................................................................................... 19
Operation From The GUI Panel ........................................................................... 19
Piezo Controller Settings Panel .......................................................................... 22
Setting the Position Sensor Zero ......................................................................... 24
Choice of Display Mode ....................................................................................... 24
Detection of Range of Travel ............................................................................... 24
5 Installation and Maintenance .................................................................25
Mechanical Installation ................................................................................................. 25
Siting .................................................................................................................... 25
Environmental Conditions .................................................................................... 25
Identifying Unsafe Equipment .............................................................................. 25
Electrical Installation .................................................................................................... 26
Electrical Connections ......................................................................................... 26
Rear Panel User I/O Connector ........................................................................... 27
Rear Panel Piezo In Connector ........................................................................... 28
Software Installation ..................................................................................................... 29
Connecting The Hardware ................................................................................... 30
Software Upgrades .............................................................................................. 30
Preventive Maintenance ............................................................................................... 31
Safety Testing ...................................................................................................... 31
Cleaning .............................................................................................................. 31
6 Specifications and Associated Products .............................................. 32
Specifications ............................................................................................................... 32
Associated Products .................................................................................................... 32
7 Piezo Control Method Summary ............................................................33

3
Chapter 1
For Your Safety
1.1 Safety Information
For the continuing safety of the operators of this equipment, and the protection of the
equipment itself, the operator should take note of the Warnings, Cautions and Notes
throughout this handbook and, where visible, on the product itself.
The following safety symbols may be used on the equipment:
Warning, risk of danger. Refer to the handbook for details on this hazard.
Warning, risk of electric shock. High voltages present
Equipotentiality (bonding) terminal
Functional (EMC) earth/ground terminal.
The following safety symbols may be used throughout the handbook:
Warning. An instruction which draws attention to the risk of injury or death.
Caution. An instruction which draws attention to the risks of damage to the product,
process or surroundings.
Note. Clarification of an instruction or additional information.
!

4
For Your Safety
1.2 Warnings
• The Equipment, as described herein, is designed for use by personnel properly trained in
the use and handling of mains powered electrical equipment. Only personnel trained in
the servicing and maintenance of this equipment should remove its covers or attempt any
repairs or adjustments.
• If this equipment is used in a manner not specified by the manufacturer, the protection
provided by the equipment may be impaired. Do not operate the instrument outside its
rated supply voltages or environmental range. In particular, excessive moisture may
impair safety.
• This unit is intended for operation from a normal, single phase supply, in the temperature
range 5° to 40°C, 20% to 80% RH.
1.3 Declarations Of Conformity
1.3.1 For Customers in Europe
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the EC Directives
89/336/EEC ‘EMC Directive’ and 73/23/EEC ‘Low Voltage Directive’ as amended by
93/68/EEC.
Compliance was demonstrated by conformance to the following specifications which
have been listed in the Official Journal of the European Communities:
Safety EN61010: 2001 Installation Category II, Polution Degree II.
EMC EN61326: 1997
1.3.2 For Customers In The USA
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A
digital device, persuant to part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to
provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is
operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses and can
radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the
instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference
in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at his own expense.
Changes or modifications not expressly approved by Thorlabs Ltd could void the
user’s authority to operate the equipment.

5
1.4 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive
1.4.1 Compliance
As required by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive of
the European Community and the corresponding national laws, Thorlabs offers all
end users in the EC the possibility to return "end of life" units without incurring
disposal charges.
This offer is valid for Thorlabs electrical and electronic equipment
• sold after August 13th 2005
• marked correspondingly with the crossed out "wheelie bin" logo (see Fig. 1)
• sold to a company or institute within the EC
• currently owned by a company or institute within the EC
• still complete, not disassembled and not contaminated
Fig. 1.1 Crossed out "wheelie bin" symbol
As the WEEE directive applies to self contained operational electrical and electronic
products, this "end of life" take back service does not refer to other Thorlabs products,
such as
• pure OEM products, that means assemblies to be built into a unit by the user (e. g. OEM
laser driver cards)
• components
• mechanics and optics
• left over parts of units disassembled by the user (PCB's, housings etc.).
If you wish to return a Thorlabs unit for waste recovery, please contact Thorlabs or
your nearest dealer for further information.

6
For Your Safety
1.4.2 Waste treatment on your own responsibility
If you do not return an "end of life" unit to Thorlabs, you must hand it to a company
specialized in waste recovery. Do not dispose of the unit in a litter bin or at a public
waste disposal site.
1.4.3 Ecological background
It is well known that WEEE pollutes the environment by releasing toxic products
during decomposition. The aim of the European RoHS directive is to reduce the
content of toxic substances in electronic products in the future.
The intent of the WEEE directive is to enforce the recycling of WEEE. A controlled
recycling of end of life products will thereby avoid negative impacts on the
environment.

7
Chapter 2
Overview
2.1 APT Rack System Description
2.1.1 Introduction
Thorlabs has an extensive range of one-, two- and three-axis controllers for stepper
motor and piezo actuator control. Increasingly, production of optoelectronic
components requires fully automated or semiautomated control of a large number of
mechanical stages. In such applications, it is often more convenient to use a modular
system of controllers to drive a modular system.
The Thorlabs Modular Motion Control System has been developed to meet the
challenges of the modern optoelectronic production environment and provides
unsurpassed ease of installation, reconfiguration, flexibility and upgradability.
The MMR601 modular rack provides a highly functional 12 channel platform within the
‘footprint’ of a 4U high, 19” wide enclosure. With a unified power supply and a USB
communications interface, the APT rack system is easily incorporated into larger
custom applications.
2.1.2 Building Larger Scale Systems
The unrestricted configuration flexibility offered by the APT rack allows any
combination of the 2-channel APT stepper motor controller, piezoelectric driver and
NanoTrak control modules to be fitted for specific nanopositioning and alignment
applications. For example, a system configured to operate our APT606 6-axis
nanopositioning stage, which has six stepper motors and six piezoelectric actuators
with displacement sensors, would require 12 channels of motion control. Using three
stepper motor modules, each with two channels, provides the motor control; using two
piezoelectric controller modules and one NanoTrak controller module would power all
6 of the piezoelectric actuators while also taking advantage of the position sensors.
Additionally, the NanoTrak module provides the full range of features offered by a fully
operational auto-alignment system. All this functionality fits into the single MMR601
chassis that measures just 4U in height.
Please see the documentation supplied with the various module products for further
details.

8
Overview
2.1.3 Ease of Use
The rack system architecture, hardware and software has been skilfully engineered
to provide an efficient and effective solution to complex high channel count
applications.
The APT rack presents a clean, uncluttered front panel, with six rear mounting bays
for the plug-in modules. The backplane of the rack connects all modules and the
control PC via a standard USB bus. This arrangement greatly simplifies the cable
management issues that arise as the number of channels expands.
A flexible and energy efficient integral power supply powers all of the modules
allowing for an adaptable, “mix-and-match” choice of module type, location and
combination. These features greatly enhance ease-of-use, and provide an
unparalleled flexibility for future system upgrades or reconfigurations. Each module is
equipped with an on-board DSP embedded processor; as modules (channels of
operation) are added, processing power is also added, hence the system is able to
maintain maximum operating efficiency even when fully loaded.
Due to the inherent architecture of the system, additional racks can be added to the
USB bus as required, thus allowing multiple, fully automated 6-axis positioning
stages to be combined into a single unified motion control system.
The PC based software that is used to drive the MMR601 system operates from the
same kernel of ActiveX multithreaded server code and associated suite of high level
user applications used to drive our range of APT stand-alone bench top controllers.
This makes it possible to offer effortless code-porting and concurrent control of bench
top and rack controllers.
The APT software is rigorously engineered using modern object oriented techniques,
ensuring programming environment independence and compatibility with a large
number of third party development tools.
All key high level commands, settings and
system parameters are exposed through a set of ActiveX Drivers. These exposed
objects allow the modular electronics system to be 'driven' from applications written by
the user without the need to understand or alter the core system software.
In addition, ActiveX technology is language independent, allowing custom application
development to be undertaken using any language or development system that
supports ActiveX.