The Fundamental Bandwidth Limit of Piezoelectrically Actuated Nanopositioners With Motion Amplification

Abstract

This paper proposes a simple reduced-order model for a general flexure-guided piezoelectrically actuated nanopositioner and employs it to derive the upper limit of achievable bandwidth for a specified travel range. It is shown that flexure-based motion amplification enables achieving higher bandwidth than that obtained when they are used for guiding motion alone. The optimal amplification and the corresponding maximum bandwidth are studied as functions of the mass carried by the positioner and the stiffness of the flexure. Simple analytical expressions are derived for the two in case of stiff flexures carrying small mass. The proposed reduced-order model is validated by means of finite element analysis.