Design and calibration of a piezoelectric actuator for interferometric applications

The present work reports a possible solution for a low-cost piezoelectric actuator available for interferometric applications. In the paper the design, the assembly and the calibration of the actuator are described in detail.

The solution adopted consists of a machined stainless steel case deformed by three low-voltage multilayer plumbum zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic blocks. In the proposed arrangement a three degree of freedom device is obtained, by which a translation and two rotations can be performed.

The PZTs are driven by a supply voltage provided by a 16 bit D/A converter directly connected to the parallel port of a personal computer which guarantees a very accurate output. This voltage is applied on each ceramic by means of a variable resistor, by which it is possible to adjust the maximum driving voltage for the single block. This electrical solution allows to match up the strokes of the ceramics in order to obtain a straight expansion of the whole actuator.

After the mechanical and electrical set-up of the actuator, a static calibration was carried out by inserting it along one arm of a Michelson speckle interferometer. The calibration procedure had emphasized the hysteresis loop and the non-linearity of the electromechanical behaviour of the actuator.