attocube’s SENSORICS team is devoted to the development of cutting-edge sensor solutions for the most challenging applications in research and industry. The innovative optical displacement sensors of the FPS and IDS series* surpass the performance of other presently available devices in terms of precision, speed, and compactness. The patented fiber-based, interferometric measurement principle offers unrivalled accuracy and stability, while the compact design enables strikingly simple adjustment even in spatially confined setups. Fiber-based sensor heads enable the operation in extreme environments, such as ultra high vacuum, cryogenic temperatures, or even hard radiation.

* FPS (Fabry-Pérot Sensor) | IDS (Industrial Displacement Sensor)

With its USB interfacing and advanced measurement software, the FPS system is the perfect choice for contactless, ultra-high precision displacement measurements with immediate data inspection. Typical fields of applications range from quality assurance to R&D.

Being based on the same fundamental interferometer technology, both FPS and IDS sensors share the same sensor head designs and specifications. attocube offers a variety of sensor heads, which range from ultra-compact for most confined spaces to larger designs for easy alignment and high dynamic range applications. An overview of the existing sensor heads and dynamic ranges can be found below.

Naming Scheme

D1.2 1.2 mm mounting diameter

M12 M12 metric thread mounting

F7 focussing head with 7 mm focal length

C1.6 collimating head with 1.6 mm spot size

FLEX flexure structure with integrated (theta, phi) adjustment range

The FPS & IDS sensors are compatible with a variety of targets, target materials, and technical surfaces
(such as drive shafts, end mills etc.). Most frequently, plane mirrors are being used in constrained (uniaxial) or xy-measurement applications (bi-axial).

Fabry-Pérot Interferometer

Our FPS and IDS Sensor Systems are based on a low-finesse fiber-based Fabry-Pérot Interferometer. A great advantage of this technology over other displacement sensing techniques is their electronic-free sensor heads. The physical dimension of the sensor head is reduced to the millimeter range. This miniaturization makes the sensor ultra-compact and also compatible with extreme environments such as ultra high vacuum and low temperature.
The fiber-based design allows flexible alignment, thus making multi-axis measurements and large distances of fiber length (even covering kilometer long distances) an easy task.

Environmental Compensation Unit (ECU)

The ECU provides a fully automated refractive index compensation for contactless interferometric measurements at ambient conditions. Variations in air pressure, temperature, and humidity are recorded and used to automatically compensate for changes in the refractive index.

Focusing Sensor Head

The focusing sensor heads D1.2/F7 (sensor head diameter of 1.2 mm with a focal length of 13 mm), D4/F8, D4/F13, and D12/F2.8 are suitable to measure on a wide range of target materials as well as target surface qualities with low, medium, or high surface reflectivity. For example, the focusing sensor heads make it possible to measure on a BK7 glass object with a reflectivity of only 4 %.

Collimating Sensor Head

The collimating sensor heads M12/C1.6 (sensor head with a M12 metric thread and a beam diameter of 1.6 mm) and M15.5/C1.6 including a flexure structure to adjust the beam path angle with ±1° are suited with a collimating optics type especially designed for the use with targets of high surface quality e.g. mirror or polished stainless steel. The sensor head M12/C7.6 is optimized to measure over longer distances on a retroreflector target.