Compact goniometer SMARGON

6-axisfor high-precision angular alignment

The SMARGON consists of a combination of positioning systems with five degrees of freedom mounted on top a heavy duty rotation stage. A piezo driven rotation stage or a high precision air bearing can be used for the ω-rotation of the positioning system. The five axis positioning stage allows the sample under investigation to be positioned in X, Y and Z direction and to be rotated in the χ- and φ-direction. The SMARGON control system calculates the partially parallel kinematic transformation which allows for direct positioning and alignment in the beam. In its standard configuration, a magnetic sample holder is mounted at the frontend which offers a fast and convenient way to load and unload different samples. This high precision goniometer was especially designed for the use in X-ray diffraction experiments. Therefore, SmarAct devoted particular attention to the six degrees of freedom of the SMARGON positioning system. The goniometers overall compactness and its small footprint help to minimize self-shadowing effects. This also allows the X-ray detector to be placed much closer to the sample, yielding a larger portion of the diffraction cone to be detected. SmarAct is also able to offer the SMARGON in a vacuum compatible version or fully made out of non-magnetic materials. The sphere of confusion of the entire setup represents the overall performance and strongly depends on the precision of each individual positioning stage. Therefore, each stage is accurately aligned to ensure synergy in the combined multiaxial system.