Determination of force to displacement curves using a nanopositioning system based on electromagnetic force compensated balances

This paper discusses a novel nanopositioning system which is based on an electromagnetic force compensated balance. In addition to the positioning the actuating force can also be measured. This enables the measurement of force displacement curves of springs with a wide variety of spring constants. The measurement range of the spring constants is up to 109N/m with a maximum resolution of about 0.01 N/m. Compared to other principles for measuring the spring constant the introduced method is more sophisticated. Both force as well as the displacement can be measured traceable with one sensor simultaneously.