The advances & technologies of galvanometer-based optical scanners

The technology of closed loop galvanometer-based optical scanners continues to be advanced, enabling a broader range of laser system applications and uses. Advances in the technology have provided major improvements in galvo positioning speed, accuracy, size and cost. Galvanometers are designed with a variety of positioning actuator and detection technologies to provide the system integrator with a flexible range of price/performance options. As an example, Cambridge Technology offers 13 different models of galvanometers with several different configurations of actuator and position detector technology to allow the optimization of positioning speed, accuracy, cost and size. This paper will introduce the benefits, operating ranges and recent advances in galvanometer technology for scanning applications. Several different actuator and position detector technologies and designs will be presented. This will include moving iron, moving coil and moving magnet actuators along with several capacitive and optical position detector designs that offer positioning speeds as fast as 150 micro-seconds and positioning repeatability/resolution to a single microradian. The performance and system design trade-offs that one should consider during the selection of the appropriate galvanometer technology and the optical systems design will be discussed along with a performance comparison of the galvanometer to other optical scanning technologies.