Stages are quickly and easily mounted, both to each other and optical systems, by sliding along and locking to the separate dovetail-like, stainless steel e•z•Trac™ rail underneath (and orthogonal to) the translating surface. Because the e•z•Trac™ rails mount independently to the full stage, exchanging and reconfiguring Triple-Divide™ translation stages is trivial and easily integrable into most optical systems. The rail feature also makes them ideal for integration into scalable and OEM systems.

The stages are based on a ball-bearing design and made of anodized aluminum with hardened and polished stainless-steel races. They provide smooth and accurate positioning over the full travel range with 0.5 μm resolution and a straight-line accuracy of 2.5 μm.

Our modular Triple-Divide translation stages are as stable as integrated XYZ stages. As the diagram shows, the locking of the stages and accessories is accomplished with a cone-point setscrew acting on a dovetail-shaped steel rail, which we call the e•z•Trac™ rail. The sloped sides of the rail, with the conical surface of the setscrew, transfer the horizontal thrust force of the setscrew into a vertical component. Since a force of over 125 lbs (550 N) can be easily exerted by the screw with a standard ball driver (really, we tested it!), over 250 lbs (1100 N) of vertical force clamp the stage down to the mounting surface (even if the mounting surface is another stage). The tremendous friction on the stage from the mounting surface and from the e•z•Trac rail itself keeps the stage from sliding along the long axis of the rail. And since just two screws can keep the rail itself locked down to an optical table with over 400 lbs (1780 N) of force, a stage locked to the rail is highly resistant to torque both in and out of the plane of the table.

The XY and XYZ stages can be easily configured for mirror-image right and left-hand versions for more flexibility in how you lay out your experiment on the table. Simply loosen the set screws which hold the railing in place and revers the position of the bottom stage so that it is facing the opposite of the original direction.

E•z•Trac™ rails are included with each 9064 stage allowing you to table mount or combine this stage with any of the accessories from our e•z•Trac™ 19 mm Surface Mount Optical Rails to build the translation system you want. Shown here is two 9064-X stages orthogonally stacking together for an XY configuration. 

Actuators are not included with these stages. We recommend using our Thread-Matched Adjustment Screw or our Model micrometer. For even more precise control, these stages can be fitted with Picomotor actuators. See the accessory section for more information. 9064 stages with pre-configured actuators are also available