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DDR100 Rotation Stage Shown
Mounted on Top of M30XY XY Stage

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Features

• 360° Continuous Rotation
• High Speeds up to 180 rpm
• Low Profile: 40 mm (1.57")
• Integrated, Brushless DC Servo Motor Actuators
• High-Quality, Precision-Engineered Bearings
• Compatible with SM1 Lens Tubes and 30 mm Cage System Components
• Compatible with NR360SP4 and NR360SP9 Adapter Plates

The Thorlabs' DDR100 low-profile, direct-drive rotary stage provides continuous rotation of a load up to 5 kg (11 lb) with 2 µrad resolution and a maximum rotation speed of 180 rpm. An SM1-threaded central aperture allows an optical path to pass directly through the body of the stage.

This stage has a 3-phase, brushless DC motor integrated directly into the frame of the stage. This eliminates all forms of mechanical transmission providing high repeatability, rigidity and reliability. The winding design eliminates torque ripple due to magnetic cogging, enabling good velocity stability even at low speeds. The high magnetic pole count produces a large amount of torque (0.7 N•m). The high-resolution encoder mounted directly on the moving world provides high accuracy and repeatability, while the precision-engineered bearings and tight manufacturing tolerances produce very low axial wobble (60 µrad) and radial eccentricity (6 µm). An engraved Vernier scale with 1° graduations allows for coarse positioning.

The stage can be mounted horizontally on the work surface, or vertically on a Ø1" post (see the diagram to the right) or by using our AP90RL or VB01 right-angle brackets. It can also be mounted directly to the DDS300 and DDS600 translation stages. The top plate features an SM1-threaded (1.035"-40) through hole to allow Ø1" optics and our SM1 product line to be mounted. The rotating and non-rotating top surfaces, and the rear face, all feature an array of 4-40 tapped holes to integrate 30 mm cage assemblies and components.

Controller
The recommended controller is the BBD301 Single-Axis Brushless DC Motor Controller (sold separately below). This controller provides a user-configurable, S-curve acceleration/deceleration profile that enables fast, smooth positioning without vibration or shock. It is ideal for motion control applications demanding operation at high speeds (hundreds of mm/s) and high encoder resolution (50 nm). The design incorporates the latest digital and analog techniques as well as high-bandwidth, high-power servo control circuitry. The controllers ship with our software for easy integration into an existing system. For multi-axis applications (e.g. when used with the DDS300 and DDS600 translation stages) the stage can also be driven by our BBD302 or BBD303 two- and three-axis controllers, respectively. Click here to view our full presentation on these controllers.

Adapter Plates
Adapter plates are available that fix to the rotating platform of the stage. The NR360SP4 Grooved Adapter Plate allows the stage to be used with our fiber launch systems product line. The NR360SP9 Threaded Adapter Plate has 17 1/4"-20 or M6 mounting holes and four #8 or M4 counterbored fixing holes and provides numerous options for attaching devices. See below for more details.

Joystick Option
An optional 2-axis joystick console (MJC001) is also available for remote positioning applications. See the presentation below for more details. Please note that in order to control two stages simultaneously, a BBD302 two-axis controller required.

DDR100(/M) Stage Pin Out Descriptions

The flying leads are terminated in a male 15-pin D-Type and male 8-pin round DIN connector. Pin details are given below.

BBD301, BBD302, and BBD303 Controller Pin Out Descriptions

The APT video tutorials available here fall into two main groups - one group covers using the supplied APT utilities and the second group covers programming the APT System using a selection of different programming environments.

Disclaimer: The videos below were originally produced in Adobe Flash. Following the discontinuation of Flash after 2020, these tutorials were re-recorded for future use. The Flash Player controls still appear in the bottom of each video, but they are not functional.

Every APT controller is supplied with the utilities APTUser and APTConfig. APTUser provides a quick and easy way of interacting with the APT control hardware using intuitive graphical control panels. APTConfig is an 'off-line' utility that allows various system wide settings to be made such as pre-selecting mechanical stage types and associating them with specific motion controllers.

APT User Utility

The first video below gives an overview of using the APTUser Utility. The OptoDriver single channel controller products can be operated via their front panel controls in the absence of a control PC. The stored settings relating to the operation of these front panel controls can be changed using the APTUser utility. The second video illustrates this process.

APT Config Utility

There are various APT system-wide settings that can be made using the APT Config utility, including setting up a simulated hardware configuration and associating mechanical stages with specific motor drive channels. The first video presents a brief overview of the APT Config application. More details on creating a simulated hardware configuration and making stage associations are present in the next two videos.

APT Programming

The APT Software System is implemented as a collection of ActiveX Controls. ActiveX Controls are language-independant software modules that provide both a graphical user interface and a programming interface. There is an ActiveX Control type for each type of hardware unit, e.g. a Motor ActiveX Control covers operation with any type of APT motor controller (DC or stepper). Many Windows software development environments and languages directly support ActiveX Controls, and, once such a Control is embedded into a custom application, all of the functionality it contains is immediately available to the application for automated operation. The videos below illustrate the basics of using the APT ActiveX Controls with LabVIEW, Visual Basic, and Visual C++. Note that many other languages support ActiveX including LabWindows CVI, C++ Builder, VB.NET, C#.NET, Office VBA, Matlab, HPVEE etc. Although these environments are not covered specifically by the tutorial videos, many of the ideas shown will still be relevant to using these other languages.

Visual Basic

Part 1 illustrates how to get an APT ActiveX Control running within Visual Basic, and Part 2 goes on to show how to program a custom positioning sequence.

LabVIEW

Full Active support is provided by LabVIEW and the series of tutorial videos below illustrate the basic building blocks in creating a custom APT motion control sequence. We start by showing how to call up the Thorlabs-supplied online help during software development. Part 2 illustrates how to create an APT ActiveX Control. ActiveX Controls provide both Methods (i.e. Functions) and Properties (i.e. Value Settings). Parts 3 and 4 show how to create and wire up both the methods and properties exposed by an ActiveX Control. Finally, in Part 5, we pull everything together and show a completed LabVIEW example program that demonstrates a custom move sequence.

The following tutorial videos illustrate alternative ways of creating Method and Property nodes:

Visual C++

Part 1 illustrates how to get an APT ActiveX Control running within Visual C++, and Part 2 goes on to show how to program a custom positioning sequence.

MATLAB

For assistance when using MATLAB and ActiveX controls with the Thorlabs APT positioners, click here.

To further assist programmers, a guide to programming the APT software in LabVIEW is also available here.