A good sample manipulator is one of the crucial components of your experimental station. We, cryoarc, provide you with a manipulator workhorse, cutting-edge but built to withstand whatever you throw at it. With all the high-tech features you need to boost your research but with an eye on easy use and reliability.
Maximal freedom with 6 axes, all crossing at the sample position, the true center of rotation. We provide an azimuth range of +/-180° and a tilt range of -20/+40°. All axes are fully motorised and due to the rigid connection provide minimal backlash.
We provide cryogenic sample cooling to 4 Kelvin and lower, measured just a couple of millimeters away from the sample. You also want to heat to 450 Kelvin and above? Ask us!
The sample holder is equipped with four electrical contacts that you can use on your sample plate. They are easy accessible at the rear side of the sample holder and can also be used to have an accurate temperature measurement directly on the sample plate.
The translation axes as well as the theta rotation are equipped with absolute encoders. The two remaining axes are equipped with in-vaccum end-switches and are driven by stepper motors with or without encoder. All this provides trustworthy micrometer precision.
Our manipulator uses flag style sample plates. Your sample/setup can occupy nearly the complete area, except for a 2-3 mm strip to the left and right. The available height can range from zero to several millimeters and we adjust the sampel holder to place the sample into the center of rotation.
Our system runs with liquid helium, which is very expensive as we all know. We try to minimise consumption in any way possible. Are you looking for a closed cycle system? Ask us!
The manipulator was designed for the Surface / Interface Spectroscopy beamline at the Swiss Light Source and now elements are found at several other places in the SLS. In operation since December 2019, it provides a crucial part of enabling higher resolution and flexibility while being robust. This manipulator is now accessible to anyone requiring cold temperatures and flexibility simultaneously.
You wonder why we call our manipulator a workhorse? Because we want it to work – no matter what you do with it. It is our goal to make the use of our manipulator as simple as possible. This starts by having the sample in the true center of rotation, having hardware mechanisms to minimise the sphere of confusion and enable a stable sample position independent of temperature.
We think that thermal and mechanical things do not go well together. As a result we separate them and eliminate the thermal drift of your sample and increase reliability. Furthermore, we put much effort into making the use of the manipulator as safe as possible – hence all axes are equipped with end switches, even the two axes inside the vacuum. No chance of a midnight crash. Nearly everything on our manipulator is mechanically adjustable and hence we are able to minimize the sphere of confusion.
Special attention is given to the design, manufacturing and assembly of the cooling line. Many commonly used and convenient solutions cannot be applied to a manipulator that targets temperatures in the 4 Kelvin range. As a consequence we use a unique way of clamping the sample and positioned a temperature sensor just a couple of milimeters away. The manufacturing processes of the flexible cooling connection that enable the tilt and azimuth movement is absolutly crucial. Our effort pays off: we achieve a temperature drop from the cryostat to the sample plate of less than a Kelvin.
Lowest temperatures are only achievable by greatly reducing the heatload. Once the radiation from the surroundings becomes too high the temperature cannot be reduced anymore. For this reason we have built a thermal shield inside the vacuum chamber to get rid of the chamber’s thermal radiation. With this solution we are able to provide the lowest temperatures while still providing a good sample access when you need it. Surely, a thermal shield within your vaccum chamber is highly dependent on your setup. Contact us to discuss the details!
You have questions or special needs? We can adapt everything: size, length, cooling, heating, precision, color (this will be interesting!)… Just let us know!
I think that testing is a crucial element of a quality product. We do thermal testing by producing Gelati and mechanical testing by assembling a second manipulator with it. Only then they are released into the wild.
Every day I feel the joy of polishing manipulators to a new level of shininess. I don’t stop until they dissapear – because of the perfectly reflected surounding. For some unexplainable reason we stumble a lot in our workshop.
