Performance Measurements On A Fast Tracking Autofocus Scanning Stage

In Glasgow City, Scotland, allegorical figures of speed and science flank the main entrance to the North British Locomotive Company. Speed is gazing toward the allegory of science caught in a dramatic pose of extreme dynamism with the inertia of flowing robes behind, astride a winged chariot.

These allegorical figures were created shortly after the Wright Brothers were actively pioneering the frontiers of powered flight. At this intersection of science, speed, and flight, we find new frontiers in genetic sequencing, nanofabrication, and digital pathology taking place in the modern day.

At the borders of new scientific frontiers, highly specialized motion control systems, optics, and high numeric aperture microscope objectives provide a medium to interface with the mesoscopic world. These narrow focal depth objectives impose constraints on imaging and fabrication that become inextricably linked to the materials and methods they interface with. In the macroscopic world of materials, tolerances often extend beyond what a static objective process can accommodate and the need for fast autofocus arises.